Unknown Daughter
by mai321lunatic
Summary: AU: Fem!Percy. Her mother is dead. Her father thinks she's dead. Her step-father wants nothing to do with her. And her brother is some kind of prophesied hero. Add her own prophecy and an ancient grandfather who wants to kill her and Nixie's got a problem on her hands. Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson BWL is the BWL!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Re -try/re-write of _**Sea Witch**_**. **Please review/comment.

* * *

**[4 years old]**

'I don't care, Dumbledore, that girl must go!' a male voice yelled.

Azalea frowned from where she was in the kitchen. She had begun to have another fit and had come down to have a cup of milk since it usually helped with her seizures that she had been experiencing since two years ago. She put the cup away and crouched behind the door that led to James study.

'Death Eaters attacked today and because of that girl, Daniel almost got killed!' James Potter continued.

Azalea rolled her eyes. _Daniel didn't even get a scratch from that attack and I was trying to protect Dan while you were entertaining the reporters._ She silently winced when she jarred one of her injuries.

'Very well,' the grandfatherly voice known as Dumbledore sighed. Inwardly he frowned, though he didn't care for the girl like all the others, he was mad at the reminder that his plan to get the girl killed had failed. That girl influenced his weapon too much.

'Are you sure that is a good idea?' Remus Lupin said. Azalea was sure that Uncle Moony knew she was here. If he didn't, then his nose was getting old.

'Where would you even going to send her to?' Sirius Black, Dan's dogfather said. 'It could cause a scandal if it gets out that you abandoned her.'

There was silence until James suddenly said, 'Lily's sister, Petunia. She and her husband hate anything to do with magic. They'll keep her away from us as long as we keep paying them.'

'What?!' Moony yelped. 'Are you sure? You've met Petunia!'

Azalea could hear James shrug. 'She's not even my daughter. Why should I care?'

There was a ruffle of clothing. 'Come on. Dan's party is about to start.' Dumbledore and what was left of the Marauders exited the study and made their way to the ball room where Daniel Potter's 3rd birthday was being held.

Remus fell and began to look around for his niece. Finally he looked up and smiled sadly before catching up with his friends and his old headmaster.

Azalea dropped to the floor in a crouch from where she had been hanging from the ceiling in the shadows and she winced at the shock that went through her sore body. She stood and a stretched before going back to her room where no one could see her. She needed to see Griphook.

.

James and Azalea apparated in front of a house in a suburbia neighbourhood and as she looked around, spotting Hedwig flying off, she couldn't help but be slightly disgusted.

Every house in Privet Drive, Surrey looked exactly the same, right down to their clean cut lawns. The only personification Azalea could see was what flowers were in the gardens and probably the people in the houses. As Azalea continued to look around the neighbourhood, she stopped that thought since anyone who would willingly live in a place like this was probably the same as the next.

As James yanked her towards No.4, Azalea was able to spot people peeking out of windows from behind curtains. When she met their eyes, they would duck back behind the curtains and pretend to be doing something else. A neighbourhood of gossipers and a strange man dragging a little girl would be major gossip. Azalea Nixie Potter just knew life here was going to be hell here.

This was a place where anything that was different was not welcomed.

.

**[5 years old]**

Azalea was outside, weeding the garden on Petunia's orders. Even though she had to spend a lot of time in the sun, Azalea didn't complain because that would get her a hit from the frying pan and because it got her out of No.4 and she got to hang out with Hedwig.

[Can I just scratch them? Just a tiny bit] said owl hooted.

[I didn't take you for a whiner, Hedwig] Azalea replied telepathically.

[I'm not] Hedwig hooted indignantly. [But they deserve this. Not even James beat you for all his problems]

[Yeah, he only did it when I drew attention away from him and Dan] Azalea said.

[And they keep you away from me] Hedwig hooted.

[Would you rather be locked in a cage?] Azalea said. [I don't want you getting hurt]

[Then you should run away. You like running, don't you Az?]

Petunia poked her head out. 'GIRL! Marge is coming over. Get dinner done!'

Azalea sighed and replied to Hedwig, [I do like to run, but now's not the time]

Hedwig hooted and ducked her head back in her head to go back to sleep since the time with her master was over.

.

[Come back down! I want to play!]

[Hell no!] Azalea said telepathically while outside she was hissing down at the dog that was barking up at her from the bottom of the tree she was currently in. [Go away! Bite something else!]

[Should we run now?] Hedwig asked, watching the amusing scene of her master acting like a cat battling a dog.

[I'm stuck in a tree Hedwig! I can't run from here!] Azalea replied, glaring up at the owl.

[Then command Ripper to go away] Hedwig replied, cleaning her wings. [You're a beast speaker. You can make him obey you]

[That's only if a part of them wants to listen. And I'm not that advanced] Azalea whined.

[Then you'll be spending the night in a tree, kitten]

Azalea pouted.

.

**[6 years old]**

'Next year, I'll be heading over to America to expand Grunnings,' Vernon said. 'And you're all allowed to come with me.'

'That's great, honey!' Petunia exclaimed from where she was washing the dishes. 'We'll start packing immediately!' She walked over to Vernon in the living room watching television, drying her hands, and noticed Vernon's disgruntled face. 'What's wrong honey?'

Vernon glanced at the cupboard under the stairs. 'We'll be gone for over five months, dear,' he said as if that explained it all and apparently it did because Petunia's face mirrored him.

'You mean we'll have to take. . .her,' Petunia said disgusted.

'Unless you want her freakiness to be discovered by the neighbours,' Vernon said.

'That girl ruins everything.'

.

**[7 years old]**

_Oh, this is weird._

When Azalea had opened her eyes, she found herself in King's Cross station but it was completely empty and completely white that it made her eyes ache. She was sitting on the only bench in the station. She stood up and took a few steps forward, listening to the whizzing as if someone was struggling to breath.

Azalea tensed as something grabbed her ankle. She turned around and stared in horror at the mutilated body that curled under the bench. She yelped when it pulled her leg and she began to fall backwards but when she hit the ground, she was in a different place; on a stretch of country road.

It was a place you wouldn't notice unless you broke down there. On her side was nothing but maple trees and litter and on the other side, across four lanes, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade, knitting a large pair of socks.

The socks were the size of sweaters but they were definitely socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them and the lady on the left knitted another while the lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three woman looked ancient: pale faces wrinkled, silver hair tied back in whit bandannas and bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

And they were staring right at Azalea.

The one in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears – and cut the yarn. Azalea could hear the _snip!_from across the four lanes of asphalt before everything went black.

.

Azalea jerked up from where she had been sleeping on the floor and then winced from her sore muscles.

_Weird dream_, she thought to herself_. I can add that to my 'weird experiences since coming to New York' list along with metal birds and one-eyed stalkers._

It had been six years since that Halloween night where Voldemort attacked, Lily Potter died and Daniel Potter was declared the Boy-Who-Lived and three years since Azalea had arrived at Privet Drive No.4. Azalea was currently seven years old, turning eight in a few minutes, a year after the Dursleys had packed up and left for America on Vernon's business trip. In a week, they would return to Privet Drive No.4.

Life in here wasn't any different than how it was in No.4. She was still the Dursley's slave and punching bag though the Dursleys were more careful here than they were back in Surrey since they didn't have the neighbours here wrapped around their finger. In school, Azalea still had to make sure that she received a grade lower than Dudley (which was easy since Dudley was dumb and once the teachers saw her previous scores, they label her as a lost cause)or she would receive a beating for her troubles. On the plus side, Azalea had more time outside and away from the Dursleys, though Azalea suspected that they hoped she'd get lost and probably killed in the streets.

That would never happen when she had the smartest owl in the world as her guide.

Suddenly, her head began to hurt and everything went dark.

Magic seemed to like messing with her.

.

Azalea appeared in a dark alley and yelped in surprise since she had never astral projected unintentionally before and she was pretty sure her body was still in the Dursley's apartment.

Astral projection was a skill that she had discovered she could do and one she used often to escape her body during a beating and spy on her 'caretakers' in case they planned something for her that she'd need to prepare for.

Azalea had always had control over her magic. It was why James had immediately assumed that she was a squip when she never had accidental magic, which fuelled his reasons to ignore her. With the help of the house elves, who were shocked she asked _them_ for help, Azalea practiced magic. Azalea didn't _need_ a wand when she had a much more superior tool.

Her mind.

Azalea looked around and noticed that she was in a familiar alley only two blocks away from the apartment that held her physical body. Suddenly she heard a sound, like the huffing and puffing of a bull and she could feel the ground shake in a constant rhythm as if something heavy was banging on the ground constantly.

Azalea saw a shadow slowly approaching the corner and she willed herself to be invisible. It was a skill that she had been practicing: to go into astral mode but be completely invisible. The times it succeeded, she had been able to eavesdrop on a teacher's meeting and a pair of pranksters scheming.

When she looked into a nearby puddle, she was relieved to not be able to see herself and just in time for whatever it was to turn the corner. She couldn't believe her eyes.

It was huge, like a football player, about seven feet tall. Its arms and legs bulged with biceps, triceps and a load of other 'ceps while huge meaty hands swung at its sides. It wore no clothes except bright white Fruit-of-the-Looms underwear which would have been funny if the top half of it didn't become all bulky and fuzzy. Its neck of mass muscle and fur led up to a long snout, snotty nostrils which gleamed with a brass ring, cruel black eyes and horns – enormous black-and-white horns with sharp points.

.

Azalea returned her body with a gasp.

Wasn't the Minotaur a myth?

She needed to get out.

Azalea glanced over to the orange cylinder container that held her medicine and grabbed it. Azalea had always been prone to seizures but as the years progressed, they become worse and often and simply having a cup of milk no longer helped. She had had a fit at school and she was sent to the hospital where she was tested to see what type of medicine would help her control her seizures more effectively. The Dursleys weren't happy about paying for something important for Azalea so she had to make sure her pills lasted until she could find another way to obtain it.

Azalea put on a blue sweater over her white long sleeve shirt, making sure that her key was still around her neck, and black trousers. She grabbed her satchel and placed her pills in it along with spare clothes. She snuck into the kitchen, packing some food and a bottle of milk, having a cup, before slipping on her sneakers and slipping out of the apartment.

Instead of going to the elevator, she went to the end of the hall and opened the window and climbed out of it. As she hung onto the window, she whistled a tune and she got a hoot in reply before Hedwig flew past her.

Azalea was able to close the window so that it didn't look suspicious before jumping off the wall, performing a flip and landing in the nearby tree. When she got to the bottom, she lifted up her arm and Hedwig landed on it.

[Something is coming Az] Hedwig said, straight to business.

'I know,' Azalea said. 'I went into astral mode and saw it so we've gotta leave. Like now.'

[Can't we stay and have it go after the Dursleys?] Hedwig asked, taking off as Azalea walked through the streets, away from the apartment building.

[I thought you wanted me to run] Azalea replied telepathically or she'd be seen a crazy for talking to herself.

[I do. But those things deserve punishment]

[We're too good for them Hedwig] Azalea said. [They're not worth it]

.

'This is not what I planned,' Azalea muttered to herself as she stared at the imposing figure slowly making its way towards her. She had avoided the alleys, hoping that she wouldn't run into the Minotaur but it seemed that it didn't care about it being seen by mundanes.

[That thing stinks]Hedwig commented.

Azalea sighed. She was kind of worried that she was taking this all in stride.

People were running around, screaming and yelling about bulls. When Azalea blinked, sometimes the Minotaur would flicker into the image of an ordinary raging bull so it made her wonder if what she was seeing wasn't exactly what the mundanes were seeing.

[Wait until the last second, than jump out of the way – directly sideways] Hedwig advised. [He can't change directions very well once he's charging]

'And how do you know this?' Azalea asked.

[He's half-bull] Hedwig explained. [He's gotta act like a bull]

Azalea couldn't find anything wrong with that logic, other than the fact that he was also half-man, so she forced herself to deny her flight response and hold her ground as the Minotaur charged. At the last moment, Azalea jumped to the side and the bull-man went past her like a freight train and roared in frustration.

The Minotuar turned and charged at her again. Azalea was prepared to try the tactic again but then she realized that the Minotaur was holding its arms out in front of him so that if she jumped to the side, he would grab her. She was trapped.

[Azalea!] Hedwig hooted.

The bull-man was upon her when Azalea realized this but she tensed and jumped up, using the creature's head as a springboard, turning in mid-air and landing on his neck. Hedwig attacked the bull-man and he staggered around, trying to shake both of them off. Azalea was able to slip a knife, which she held in her sleeve, into her hand and stab it into the Minotaur's head.

Azalea was surprised that her knife went through his head with no resistance like water, as if he wasn't really there. She didn't have time to think as the bull-man's head slammed into her and she was forced to hold onto his horn to stay on as he bucked around like a rodeo bull. Azalea was lucky that this thing only had one gear: forward.

Azalea placed both hands on the horn and pull back with all her might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then – _snap!_

The bull-man screamed and Azalea was flung through the air, landing flat on her back in the grass, clutching a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife. The monster charged and Azalea rolled to one side, coming up kneeling. As the monster barrelled, (Azalea hoped this worked) she drove the broken bone into his side.

Then something strange happened. The bull-man roared and began to disintegrate, like crumbling sand blown away by the wind. Once the dust was gone, there was nothing left of the Minotaur except for the horn that Azalea held in her hand.

'How is it that my knife didn't work and yet its own horn did?' Azalea questioned.

[I don't know] Hedwig hooted. [But we've gotta go. The cops are coming]

Sure enough, in the distance, Azalea could hear the sound of sirens.

'You're right,' Azalea said. 'Lead the way.'

.

**[9 years old]**

Grover peeked around the corner, spying on the girl with headphones. He had been wandering around when he had bumped into the girl and caught the scent of a powerful half-blood which led to him, late at night, following the girl (he was _not_ stalking) who kept her head in a book as she walked through the streets without a care in the world.

Grover hoped he could get her to camp before she died.

Lost in his depressing memories, Grover almost lost her when she turned into alley. He ran into the alley, hoping to catch up to the girl when he collided with an arm that appeared as he approached the corner and landed on his back with a groan. Before he could get up, something was pressed against his chest. Grover looked up and stared up at the petite girl who had her arms cross and an owl on her shoulder who both glared at him.

'Who are you?' she asked. 'And why are you following me?'

Before Grover could answer, something charged the girl from behind. The girl turned around, lifting up her hand and the monster struggled against an invisible force. It was a Scythian Dracaenae – a Dragon Woman.

The girl picked up a trash can lid as the monster attacked again. She hit the monster in the face, on top of its head and then smacked the lid across its face, making the monster crumble to the ground and groan.

The monster began to sink, as if there was quicksand underneath it. When Grover looked closer, he realized that the Scythian Dracaenae had fallen on a puddle, somehow sinking into it and disappearing.

The girl's owl landed on his chest while he stared at the girl and it stared into his eyes, like it was looking into his soul. He gulped.

Why was life so difficult?

* * *

**Azalea Nixie Potter**

(Azalea means 'dry', Nixie means 'water monster')

Full name of the main character who replaces _Percy Jackson_ in the original series - goes mostly by Nix or Lea by her brother. She's the daughter of Lily Evans (before she married James) and Poseidon but Poseidon doesn't know that she's his daughter when he meets her because he thought she was dead. Than she was sent to the Dursleys who covered up her scent and when she ran away, she developed a cloak of magic that hid her scent from the monsters though it slowly loses its effectiveness as she grows older and stronger.

Nix has messy black hair and sea-green eyes but when she uses magic, her eyes glow emerald like _Harry _or _Avada Kedavra_ green.

**Daniel James Potter**

The BWL - and he is the one from the prophecy. He's a prankster and gets along with the Terror Twins better than with Ron, who mostly follows him around and thinks they're 'best friends' when to Dan, Ron's just an annoying friend. He's not arrogant since Nix has spent her life knocking his ego a few inches down.

Dan has messy black hair with red streaks and hazel eyes with bad eye-sight.

**James Potter**

Before Lily's death: didn't like Nix because she is evidence that he almost lost the love of his life once.

After Lily's death: didn't want Nix to steal the attention away from Dan. Wants to show that _his son_ is better than the daughter that was conceived from another man.

**Sirius Black and Remus Lupin**

Sirius is Dan's godfather; Remus is Nix's. They're neutral in the whole 'ignore one child for the other and then dump her' thing, Remus disagreeing a bit more strongly.

While everyone ignored Nix in favour of Dan, Sirius and Remus were the only one that bothered to say hello to her when they came over - whenever they could see her.

**Lily Potter nee Evans**

Lily wanted to make up with Severus but James wouldn't let her, trying to control her, and being an independent woman; she didn't agree with that and broke up with him. She went to America where she met Poseidon and returned to realize that she was still in love with James.

They began dating again. James proposed to her and Lily revealed that she was pregnant with Poseidon's child - though Lily doesn't say his name - and that Lily would only marry James if he accepted the baby as well. James agreed but everything changed when Lily died protecting the children.


	2. Chapter 2

Inside a car, sitting in the passenger's seat was Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena. She had curly blond hair, like a princess and eyes an intense shade of grey that held a distracted look like she was thinking of a million things at once. She looked like a typical California girl being tall, fit and athletic along with a natural tan.

In the driver's seat sat Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes. He was the type that girls liked with an athletic and muscular build. Tall, he had short-cropped sandy blond hair and blue eyes with a sneaky look that labelled him as a troublemaker. The only unattractive thing was the thick deep pale scar that ran from the bottom of his right eye down to his chin.

Sitting alone in the back seat was Will Solace, Son of Apollo. He had a surfer's body, tall with an athletic build, along with sun-kissed hair and blue eyes. All three of them wore orange Camp Half-Blood and all stared at the gas tank's blinking tinker incredulously as the car spluttered and died.

'You've got to be kidding me,' Luke twitched.

Annabeth scowled. 'You forgot the gas, didn't you?'

Will sighed. 'Looks like we'll have to start walking.'

Grumbling, they unpacked their stuff and began to trek the rest of the way. Somewhere along the highway, they were able to hitch a ride to the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side and then they were forced to wait in the rain. When the bus finally came, they clambered onto the bus and headed to the back where they got a surprise.

Sitting in the back seat was Grover Underwood with his crutches and a bright orange backpack beside him. He was scrawny with a case of acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin, wearing a green rasta-style cap. Unknown to the mortal world, Grover's baggy trousers and sneakers hid shaggy hind-quarters and cloven hooves while his cap hid small horns. Grover was a satyr and with his disguise, he could pass off as a crippled human.

And he looked exhausted.

'Grover!' Annabeth exclaimed, running up to hug him with Luke and Will following close behind.

'Hey mate,' Luke said, patting him in the shoulder. 'Where've you been?'

'Yeah,' Annabeth agreed. 'We haven't heard of you in over a year.'

'I've been calling Chiron,' Grover reminded her, knowing that the old centaur would've told Annabeth about it.

'Yeah, but you haven't been back to camp,' Will added. 'Why?'

'Because of that,' Grover said, pointing to the person beside him.

It was a girl with unhealthy skin and long black hair. She was petite, taking up three seats as she lay down. She wore a long black vest with a hood over a long sleeves shirt and a dark red mini skirt embroidered with black swirls along with black thigh socks and brown boots. Her eyes were closed and she listened to music through her headphones with a brown satchel beside her.

'Is she a half-blood?' Will asked. Grover nodded.

'Why haven't you taken her back to camp?' Annabeth questioned.

Grover sagged in his seat. 'She doesn't want to go,' he explained. 'I've tried to take her there but she'd just run away. I've been keeping track of her on Chiron's orders.'

'Have you told her?' Annabeth asked.

Grover nodded. 'It was easy since she can kind of see through the Mist and she's seen a lot of things while living on the streets for over three years.'

'Three years, huh,' Luke mused. 'She looks way too clean to be a runaway.'

'I think she might be a Daughter of Hermes,' Grover commented, 'cause she's stolen from and broken into a lot of apartments way too easily.'

'I have many skills, stalker goat,' the girl suddenly spoke up.

'You've been listening?' Grover asked.

'You talking as if I'm not here, of course I'm listening,' she said, sitting up, brushing her dishevelled hair out of the way and stared at the group with sea-green eyes. 'Hedwig's going to be mad that you left her out of your story.'

'Oh. Right.' Grover turned back to face the trio. 'She has a pet owl named Hedwig who has the ability to sniff out monsters. She's the one keeping this –' he pointed to the girl '- girl out of trouble.' He was promptly hit by a purple rubber ball.

'Introductions, goat boy,' she said.

Grover sighed. 'This is Annabeth, Luke and Will. Guys, this is Nixie.'

'Call me Nix,' Nix said. She waved her hand to the front of the bus. 'Are those old ladies for you?'

The group turned. There were three old ladies, all wearing crumpled velvet dresses and lace gloves holding a big paisley purse. They each wore a shapeless knit hat, one orange, another green and purple. They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. Two of them crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. it was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

Triplet demon grandmothers.

Annabeth gasped. 'The Furies.'

'All three of them,' Grover whimpered. '_Di immortals!'_

'The windows –' Will started.

'Won't open,' Luke finished.

'A back exit?' Annabeth suggested, only there wasn't one. It wouldn't have help since they were already on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.

The hit the tunnel and everything was plunged into darkness. All three ladies made their way towards the back together, as if it had been rehearsed. Once they got to the back, they transformed – their facers staying the same – into leathery brown hag bodies with bat wings, hands and feet like a gargoyle claws. Their hand bags had turned into fiery whips.

The Furies surrounded to group, lashing their whips, hissing: 'Where is it? Where?'

Nix had no idea what they were talking about but she was sure that it had something to do with the other half-bloods. The other people were screaming and cowering in their seats so Nix was sure they saw something, just not what they were.

Luke pulled out a sword while Annabeth pulled out a knife and Grover pulled out tin cans from his pack, prepared to throw it. Will stood behind them, fingering a golden charm bracelet and glancing around for an exit.

Nix stood up, grabbing her bag. She lifted her arm and flicked her hand to the left.

'Hey!' the driver yelled. 'Hey – whoa!'

Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right and then the bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks as the careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel. People and monsters were tossed around the bus, cars ploughing aside like bowling pins. Somehow the driver was able to find an exit and they shot down the highway, woods to their left and the Hudson River to their right.

Her eyes still glowing emerald, Nix pushed her palm forward and the bus wailed as the emergency break was pushed, spinning a full circle on the wet tar and crashed into the trees. The bus driver was out first and the passengers stampeded after him, yelling. The Furies regained their balance.

'Submit now,' the one on the left hissed. 'And you will not suffer eternal torment.'

Annabeth threw her knife, impaling the Fury in front of her in the neck while Luke battled the other one, whip against sword with Grover throwing tin cans at it. Will now held a bow with a quiver of arrows on his back and shot an arrow at the last Fury which she batted away with her whip. It gave Nix the time to charge and stab the Fury with her own knife.

She wailed and exploded in golden dust.

'Ow!' Grover yelled. 'Ow! Hot! Hot!' He dropped the whip that he had managed to yank out of the Fury's hand.

'Zeus will destroy you!' she promised. 'Hades will have your soul!'

'_Comede mea Braccae!_' Luke yelled as he stabbed her and she exploded.

''Eat my pants,'' Nix commented. 'Really?'

Luke just shrugged.

'Get out!' Annabeth yelled. 'Now!'

There was no need for encouragement as thunder shook the bus. They rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or rushing around in circles yelling, 'We're going to die!' One of the tourist snapped their photograph before their weapons could be hidden.

_BOOOOOM!_

Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof of the bus.

'Run!' Annabeth yelled and they plunged into the woods, flames behind them and darkness ahead of them.

.

**A/N: **Chapter 2! Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**KRP:** Nix is eleven, turning twelve when the summer ends. Yes to the thief.

**sharonpijl: **Azalea is Nixie (Azalea in Greek is 'Dry' and Nixie in Greek is 'Water Being') and Nix is Percy. Poseidon doesn't know she's his daughter, though he can sense the power of the sea in her like all water creatures.

.

KRP: Nix is eleven, turning twelve when the summer ends. Yes to the thief.

sharonpijl:Azalea is Nixie (Azalea in Greek is 'Dry' and Nixie in Greek is 'Water Being') and Nix is Percy. Poseidon doesn't know she's his daughter, though he can sense the power of the sea in her like all water creatures.

.

'What is it you did back there?' Annabeth asked. The group was currently lost in the woods, wandering aimlessly in the dark.

Nix shrugged. 'Just a little bit of magic.'

Annabeth turned to Grover. 'Is it possible she's a Daughter of Hecate?'

Grover looked up from where he was examining his reed pipes. 'It's a possibility. She's done a lot of amazing things whenever her eyes turn green.'

'So what are you guys doing out of your camp anyway?' Nix asked curious.

Before anything can be said, a shrill _toot-toot-toot_ interrupted them.

'Hey, my reed pipes still work!' Grover cried.

'Nooooooooo!' Nix yelled to the sky and, ignoring the mud, fell to her knees.

'Oh, very funny, Nix,' Grover mutter dejectedly.

'Your playing is bad, Grover,' Nix said getting up with Will's help. 'At least it's better than when we first met. Back then, you were terrible.'

'If I could just remember a 'find path' song. . .' Grover muttered, ignoring Nix's words.

'Don't bother, Grover,' Nix said. 'I've got a better way to find a way out of here.' The trio looked at her in confusion after a few minutes of nothing but then they could hear the sound of flapping wings and the three half-bloods each grabbed their weapons while Nix just simply lifted her arm up and a snowy white owl landed.

The owl hooted.

'This is Hedwig. She says to drop your weapons,' Nix translated.

The owl turned to Nix and hooted again.

'Yes, I was involved,' Nix said.

Hoot.

'It was _not_ my fault. Blame them.' She pointed to the three blonds.

Hoot. This one sounded like a sigh.

'And your always there to get me out of it,' Nix said. 'Can you get us out of here?'

Hedwig hooted before taking flight and Nix followed without hesitation. Grover followed without any hesitation but the three blonds were a little bit more hesitant to follow the owl of a girl they just met or just following the owl in general.

'Dude, did she just talk to the owl?' Will said to Luke.

'Yes she did,' Luke said. 'So do we follow the bird and weird girl?'

'Owls are the symbol of wisdom,' Annabeth said. 'And it's not like we've got any other way out.'

.

'You're on a quest,' Nix said, sceptically, 'to the Underworld.'

'Well, yeah,' Will said. 'From what I know, Zeus' Master bolt has gone missing and he's blaming Poseidon. Zeus wants his bolt back by the solstice and Poseidon wants an apology by the same time and if they don't get what they want, a war would start.'

'And that would be bad?'

'Bad,' Will agreed. 'Annabeth and Chiron, our activities director, believe that Hades has the bolt but Chiron wouldn't issue a quest. So Annabeth, who's wanted a quest for a long time, tries to leave camp without permission but I catch her and since I can't convince her to change her mind, I decide to come with her. And then Luke joins in and he has this map that will help us find Persephone's Pearls which we can use to return from the Underworld. We find those, and everything should be fine.'

'You shouldn't jinx it,' Nix warned. 'So where to first?'

'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium.'

Hedwig hooted and Nix stopped. 'Well, that's convenient.'

It was one of those roadside curio shops that sold lawn flamingos, wooden Indian, cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The red cursive neon English was worse for a dyslexic to read than regular English.

It looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROIUM.

'What the heck does that say?' Will asked.

'I don't know,' Annabeth said.

'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium,' Nix translated.

'I thought you were dyslexic like us,' Luke commented.

'I am. Hedwig translated.'

Flanking the entrance were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving like they were about to get their picture taken. The front garden was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes which Grover claimed looked like his Uncle Ferdinand and gave him the creeps.

Nix fell back behind the group. Her senses were telling her that something bad was going to happen and Hedwig agreed with her.

The door creaked open.

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'This is your fault!' Annabeth exclaimed as she pulled off the Yankees cap.

'How is it _my_ fault?' Will shot back, watching as Grover flew around, using Luke's magical sneakers since he had lost his fake feet, and hit Medusa with a stick.

Annabeth and Will had to move as Luke was thrown into the statue they were hiding behind. In a bad imitation of Will's voice, she said: 'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'

'You're impossible,' Will said.

'You're insufferable.'

'You're –'

'Hey!' Grover said as he flew into a bear. Once he got his bearings he said, 'A little help would be appreciated.'

Annabeth had a thoughtful look on her face. Before she could open her mouth to say something, she was interrupted by a voice that said: 'Over here, ugly!'

Nix stood on the other side of the room, waving her hands over her head. When Medusa turned to face her, she wasn't there anymore and was suddenly one statue away from them. 'No! Over here!' Medusa spun around and now Nix was right behind her, pushed her and disappearing just as Medusa got her bearings and turned around to face her.

'Where are you?' Medusa hissed. 'Stay still!'

'Now where would be the fun in that?' Nix said.

Suddenly, Nix was beside Luke. 'I'm gonna borrow that.' She grabbed his sword, which had fallen to the ground, and then threw it across the room towards Medusa like a javelin. Medusa dodged it and began to laugh.

'You won't get me that easi –' Medusa began to taunt when her body disintegrated and her head dropped to the floor. Where Medusa stood was Nix with Luke's sword in hand. Nix threw a confused look at the sword before disappearing, the sword dropping to the floor.

Hedwig flew in holding a veil in her talons and draped it over Medusa's head before flying to Grover and peak him in the head.

Grover slowly opened his eyes and then said, 'It's safe to look now.'

'Did Nix just. . .disappear?' Luke asked picking up his sword and looking around for said girl.

'No, I'm right over here,' Nix said, walking through the door with a bag in her arms.

'Where have you been?' Annabeth asked marching over to Nix.

'Just because a place looks innocent, doesn't mean it is,' Nix said, walking towards Medusa's head. 'When you live alone as long as I have, you learn to trust your instincts.' She grabbed the head by the snake-hair and slipped a pair of sunglasses onto Medusa's still opened eyes without taking off the veil. When she was sure that the glassed were on, she placed the head in the bag.

'What are we going to do with the head?' Will asked.

'Take it with us,' Luke said, shrugging. 'We might need it.'

'Luke's right,' Annabeth agreed. 'Now let's look for that pearl.'

The trio scattered around the shop, looking for Persephone's pearl, leaving Grover and Nix be themselves with Medusa's head. Grover was about to follow them when his foot brushed up against something. When he looked down, he saw Medusa's bracelet which had not disintegrated along with her body. It had a small blue pearl ornament.

'Is this it?' Grover yelled.

'What?' Annabeth said, poking her head through the door.

Grover waved the pearl. Annabeth grabbed it.

'Come on,' she muttered. 'We need a new plan.'


	4. Chapter 4

Nix is Percy Jackson: I hope that's clear.

Forgot to do this - Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.

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They camped out in the woods.

'Are you sure you want to come with us?' Will asked. 'I mean, it's the Underworld.'

'I'm only coming with you until we reach Las Vegas and then we'll go our separate ways,' Nix said. 'It's good to have company in a while.'

'Why are you going to Las Vegas?' Luke asked.

'For money.'

'You're kind of young to be gambling,' Annabeth said.

'Who said anything about gambling?' Nix said. 'Most people are drunk and they become careless with their money. I just pick it out of their pockets.'

She was stared at but soon Luke and Nix were the only one awake.

'Why don't you want to go to camp?' Luke suddenly asked.

'I've never been the type to stay in one place for long,' Nix said.

'You're allowed to leave once summer's over. Go to school and stuff.'

'Do I look like I go to school?' Nix snorted. 'And what would I do once I got to camp? Wait forever for a sign that would never come?'

'Not too fond of the gods, are you?' Luke asked.

'They've got years of baggage,' Nix replied. To change the subject, she asked: 'What's with your sword?'

Luke pulled out his sword. It was doubled-edged but the blade was made of two different types of metal – one edge bronze, the other steel. 'This is Backbiter.'

'Backbiter?'

Luke turned the blade so that the light of the fire made it glint wickedly. 'One side is celestial bronze. The other is tempered steel. Works on mortals and immortals both.'

'They can make weapons like that?'

'_They_ probably can't,' Luke confirmed. 'It's one of a kind.'

'Aren't heroes not supposed to hurt mortals?' Nix asked. 'Isn't that why celestial bronze goes right through them?'

Luke shrugged like he didn't care. 'Where'd you get your knife anyway?' he asked. 'You haven't been to camp so I doubt it came from there.'

'I wandered around a lot,' Nix said. 'Once, I wandered into a Cyclopes lair and I was desperate so I grab the nearest weapon and got out of there.' She shrugged. 'It's probably from a hero that we'll never know the name of.'

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Nix stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Grey mist creatures that Nix knew as spirit of the dead churned and whispered, tugging at her clothes and tried to pull her back as her body walked to the very edge of the bottomless chasm. Nix had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.

_The little hero_, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. _Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do._

The voice felt ancient – cold and heavy. It wrapped around Nix like sheets of lead. An invisible force pulled Nix forward. It would drag her into the pit if she didn't stand firm.

_Help me rise, girl._ The voice became hungrier. _Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!_

The spirits of the dead whispered around Nix, _No! Wake!_

She realized that the voice wasn't interest in pulling her in. It was trying to pull itself _out._

_Good_, it murmured. _Good_.

_Wake!_ the dead whispered. _Wake!_

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Annabeth paused as Nix's eyes snapped open and flickered emerald. Nix slowly rolled over and got on all fours before slowly rising unsteadily. She took a few steps before she stumbled, leaning on the tree for support before sliding down the trunk to her knees and began shaking.

'Nix,' Annabeth started uncertainly, 'you alright?'

Nix jerkily nodded before placing a shaking hand into her pocket, pulling an orange medicine bottle. She struggled to open it but managed and poured the contents into her mouth in unknown amounts, hugging her knees and waited for the shaking to stop.

'What's wrong with her, Grover?' Will whispered.

Grover shrugged.

'Is she an addict?' Luke asked bluntly.

Nix snorted. 'I can still hear you.' Luke grinned sheepishly. 'I'm not a junky. Just a problem I have.' Then she noticed the poodle in Grover's lap.

A pink poodle.

'Hi,' Nix said.

Woof.

'Nice to meet you, too, Gladiola,' Nix said. 'What are you doing here?'

Woof.

'You ran away,' Nix said slowly, looking Gladiola over. 'I can understand why.'

Woof.

'You're welcome. But why are you here?' Nix waved to the clearing.

Woof.

'You're going to help us. How?'

'There's a reward for your return. And you know this how?'

'She's talking to the poodle,' Annabeth said, watching the interaction between Gladiola and Nix.

'Yeah,' Will said. 'You think she can understand it?' He was promptly smacked over the head.

'Grover understands animals,' Luke added. 'What's to say that Nix can't?'

'Grover's half-goat,' Annabeth said. 'Half-animal.'

'So we turn in Gladiola,' Nix said, speaking to everyone. 'Collect the reward and get tickets to Los Angeles. Did I get that right?'

'Yeah,' Annabeth said. 'We've got to stop at the Gateway Arch to get a pearl first.' She pointed downhill towards train tracks that couldn't be seen last night. 'There's a station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon.'

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'Let's head to the Arch and ride to the top,' Annabeth said. 'The pearl is likely there.'

'You just want to see the Arch,' Will accused.

'Come on.' Annabeth hurried on in front, blushing slightly.

The Arch was a mile from the train station and this late in the day the lines weren't long. As they waited for a ride to the top, Annabeth listed off interesting facts about how the Arch was built. Grover sniffed around nervously.

'Hey, man,' Will said. 'What's wrong?'

'Monsters?' Luke asked, glancing around nervously.

'I don't know,' Grover replied, equally nervous. 'It's underground and underground air always smells like monsters. It's probably nothing.'

It didn't assure them but the boys decided to keep an eye out.

They rode up in the elevator with a big fat lady, who had beady eyes, pointy, coffee-stained teeth, a denim hat and dress, and her dog, a Chihuahua whit a rhinestone collar. No one said a thing about the dog.

The observation deck was like a tin can with carpeting, rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other with a nice view. Annabeth kept talking about structural supporter, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor.

'Annabeth, enough about the architecture,' Nix interrupt her. 'You still have another pearl to find.' Annabeth blushed. She tried to help with the search but it become clear that the pearl was not at the top of the Arch.

'Maybe it's downstairs,' Will suggested.

'It must be here,' Annabeth said. 'Where else would it be?' But she never got another chance to look as the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closed in a few hours.

Will and Nix made their way to the elevator only to realize that it was now full with Annabeth, Luke and Grover.

The park ranger said, 'Next car.'

'We'll get out,' Annabeth said. 'We'll wait with you.'

'Its fine, Annabeth,' Will said. 'We'll take the next one.'

The doors closed, leaving Will and Nix alone with a little boy and his parents, the park ranger, the Chihuahua and the fat lady flicking her forked tongue between her teeth.

Will did a double take. Forked tongue?

The Chihuahua yapped in their direction. 'Now, now, sonny,' the lady said. 'Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here.' The Chihuahua barred its teeth, foam dripping from his black lips and the fat lady sighed. 'If you insist.'

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing skin that was scaly and green. When she smiled, she flashed fangs instead of teeth and her eyes were slit sideways, like a reptile's. The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew, as tall as the roof.

It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail - which hissed in Ancient Greek like Medusa's snakes – a three-metre-long diamond back growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA – RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS – IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS – EXT. 954.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might have been laughter. 'Be honoured, godlings, for I am the Mother of Monster, the terrible Echidna!'

Will scowled but all Nix could say was: 'Isn't that a kind of anteater?'

It obviously wasn't the right thing to say since it only made Echidna angry. 'My son shall destroy you!'

The Chimera charged and they had to split up. The Chimera charged at Nix first, shooting a column of fire straight at her. Nix dodged and where she had been a moment ago was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.

They had just blowtorched a national monument.

Nix looked at the Chimera and thought, _It was a combined effort._

Arrows flew through the air and hit the Chimera in the side, some bouncing harmlessly off its dog collar. They forgot about the serpent tail until it sank its teeth into Nix's calf, making her leg feel like it was on fire, and wrapped around her ankle, throwing her towards Will. The Chimera charged and they rolled away, Nix wincing at the pain in her leg.

They back into the wall as the Chimera advanced. Echidna cackled. 'They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?' The monster growled, in no hurry to finish them off.

Nix looked beside her to the gaping hole in the side of the arch and then back to the Chimera. Seeing no other way out, she grabbed Will's arm and jumped out of the hole, dragging him with her as they plummeted to the Mississippi River down below.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the delay! Something's wrong with Doc Manager and I've been focused on school assignments.

Well, here you go. Chapter 5!

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The whole way down, Will screamed like a girl (though he'd deny it if asked) but then Nix's arms wrapped around him and they hit the water, sinking through the murk. Will was surprised that the impact hadn't hurt and then he was more surprised when water didn't rush into his mouth when he breathed in. When Will opened his eyes, he found himself inside a bubble with Nix.

'Wha –' He looked at Nix with wide eyes.

'It's magic,' Nix replied. 'Wait here while I grab that.'

Will looked to where she was pointing and his eyes widened when he spotted a necklace with a familiar pearl ornament. 'Did you know it was here?' Will asked. 'Is that why you pushed me out a hole and force me to fall metres into the Mississippi River?'

'Nah,' Nix said, nonchalantly. 'I noticed it while you were screaming your head off.' Will scowled at her as she grabbed the necklace. 'You wouldn't have died.'

Will's scowl deepened but then he remembered. 'Didn't the Chimera bite you? What about your wound?'

Nix waved his concern away. 'Nothing to worry about,' she said, but Will checked her wound anyways and was amazed to see it already healed. Nix grabbed his arm and began to swim back to the surface. 'Let's go before the other's get worried.'

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Nix and Will came ashore next to a floating McDonalds. Will was soaking wet as he got out of the water and was amazed when he saw Nix was completely dry but then he sneezed and glared at her in jealousy. Nix raised an eyebrow before waving her hand and Will dried out, though he was still cold.

A block away, emergency vehicles were surrounding the Arch and police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers was like Times Square on New Year's Eve.

A news lady was talking for the camera: 'Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch.'

'…an adolescent girl and boy,' another reporter was saying. 'Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent girl and boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting of this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities.'

They pushed through the crowd, keeping their heads down until Annabeth and Grover found them. 'We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!' Grover wailed, giving Nix a goat-hug.

Annabeth marched up to Will, trying to look angry but even she looked relieved. 'We can't leave you alone! What happened?'

'We sort of fell,' Nix said at the same time that Will said, 'Nix pushed me.'

Behind them, the paramedics pushed through the crowd, rolling the mother of the family that had been left at the top of Arch on a stretcher. She was talking about what happened but the paramedics merely believed that she was hysterical. Will and Nix ushered their group away from the crowd before they were spotted. Annabeth demanded to know what happened and they explained what had happened on top of the Arch.

'We've got to get out of town,' Nix said.

'We can't,' Annabeth protested. 'We haven't found the second pearl yet.' Her objections were silenced when Nikki threw her the necklace with the pearl embedded into it. 'Oh.'

Nix felt her left arm trembling and her hands formed a fist to try and stop it from being noticed. She reached into her pocket to pull her pills our but then realized that they weren't there. She searched through her other pockets to make sure but her suspicions had been confirmed – her pills were gone, probably lost when she was falling or when the Chimera threw her at Will. Nix sighed before she whistled the same tune she had in the woods and after a few minutes, where the group spotted Luke running up to them, Hedwig appeared, looking tired.

'Sorry, girl,' Nix apologized, 'but I've lost my pill. Rest then could you get some more for me and my sword?'

[I'm not tired] Hedwig hooted, insulted and tired.

'You're still a nocturnal creature, Hedwig,' Nix scolded. 'Meet me in Las Vegas.'

Hedwig agreed and flew to the trees, where she, hopefully, was getting some rest.

'The train has left,' Luke announced to Nix when she turned to face the group.

Nix sighed at the depressed faces. 'Come on,' she said.

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The group was surprised when Nix hotwired a car but they didn't complain since it meant they didn't have to pay for transport. They made their way to the Pantheon.

'So where do you think it is?' Grover asked, glancing around.

Luke shrugged. They couldn't really go looking around since it was a public place and it would look suspicious for adolescent kids to be wandering around this late at night without any supervision from an adult.

'We'll have to wait until everyone's gone,' Annabeth said.

'Then we'll be locked out,' Will reminded her.

'Then we won't leave.'

'We'll be caught.'

'Not if we hide in the right place,' Luke interrupted. 'Come on.'

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'This is very cliché,' Nix said as she walked out of the bathroom.

'We didn't get caught, did we,' Luke said defensively.

'Only because people are too stupid to be suspicious of occupied toilets,' Nix shot back. 'And because the cleaners aren't here yet.'

'Well, we're leaving now so they can't catch us.'

'Not true. There's still the security.'

'Do you have to be a pessimist?'

'I haven't survived this long by being careless. And my usual back up is not here, so sorry for being so paranoid.'

Luke raised his hands up defensively. 'Okay, okay. You're not very happy without Hedwig here, are you?' He dodged the purple rubber ball and turned to the other three. 'Spread out and look for the pearl.'

'Don't forget to look up,' Nix added before walking away.

Luke frowned in confusion before shaking Nix's words off.

Luke walked back into the room which held Athena's statue only to duck behind a pillar when he saw five men cleaning the area. He turned around to go to the other way only to bump into Annabeth and had to take cover when one of the men turned in their direction.

'Did you find anything?' Annabeth whispered, blushing at their close proximity.

Luke shook his head and sighed. He peeked around the corner only to hear Annabeth gasped and he had to duck back to glare at Annabeth for being noisy. She ducked her head in apology and then pointed up towards the crown that adorned Athena's head and held the blue pearl.

'_Don't forget to look up.'_ Nix's words echoed in his head. Had she known?

'Annabeth, go get Grover,' Luke commanded. 'I'm going to need those shoes.'

Annabeth nodded and crept away. Luke unzipped his bag and grabbed a small crossbow. He snuck to the pillar closes to the men and shot an arrow at every single one of them and they crumbled to the ground.

He heard a gasp. 'What did you do, Luke?' Grover exclaimed.

'Don't worry goat-boy,' Luke soothed Grover. 'They're just tranquilizers.' Grover sighed in relief. 'Where's Nix and Will?'

Annabeth shrugged. 'Couldn't find them. But we've gotta hurry. They'll only be out for thirty minutes.'

'Right,' Luke said. 'Take off the shoes goat-boy.'

Annabeth and Grover dragged the men out of the area. Luke started running and as he approached the statue, small wings spread out at the ankles of his shoes and lifted him into air. It took a while to gain balance but soon he was levelled with the crown. He pulled the pearl out and returned to the ground with Grover and Annabeth who cheered.

They turned around when they heard footsteps. It was the five men who Luke had knocked out standing side by side.

'Uh,' Grover began nervously. 'We're sorry about. . .knocking you out. . .and all.'

None of the men said anything, but them they began to change. They melted into each other, their skin turning into purple scales, and began to get bigger to the size of a rhino, each of their necks getting longer, each holding a diamond-shaped head, like a rattlesnake's, and with mouths lined with jagged rows of sharklike teeth.

A Hydra.

Grover and Luke gapped but snapped out of it when the Hydra opened three of its mouths and shot columns of flames at each of them, forcing them to duck behind the columns to avoid being fried. Once the fire was gone, Grover peeked out from behind the pillar only to be snapped by one of the heads. Luke and Annabeth were facing two Hydra heads each, defending themselves with their celestial bronze sword and knife.

One of the Hydra heads got a lucky shot and the pearl fell out of Luke's hands. Luke made to follow it but the Hydra head hit him and pushed him to the floor. He searched for the pearl, seeing it roll along the floor, and was so distracted that when the Hydra attacked him again, he cut off its head.

'No!' Annabeth yelled.

The flailing stump immediately stopped bleeding and began to swell like a balloon, splitting into two necks which each grew into a full-sized head. Soon, they were facing a six-headed Hydra.

'Hey!' a voice screamed from the other side of the room. The Hydra heads and the trio looked over to see Will, holding a very familiar head. 'Strike a pose!' He lifted the head into the sky and the trio looked away while Will lifted off the sunglasses of Medusa's eyes.

There was silence except for the sound of crumbling stone. When the trio looked up, the Hydra was completely in petrified in stone and slowly crumbling away, leaving no evidence that it had ever been there in the first place. The group breathed a sigh of relief.

'Everyone okay?' Nix asked, appearing next to Annabeth who yelped in surprise. She unzipped the bag she held and let Will place Medusa's head back in.

'Where were you?' Annabeth asked, panting from fighting and from the fright Nix had given her.

'Searching,' Nix replied.

'We heard the noise and came,' Will continued. 'Using Medusa's head was Nix's idea.'

'Because your idea would've gotten you killed and wouldn't have help any of us.' Nix looked at Luke. 'Did you find the pearl?'

Luke's eyes widened and he ran towards the drain where he had last seen the pearl. He sighed in despair when he couldn't find it. 'The Hydra knocked it out of my hand and it rolled to the drain. Must have fallen in.' He looked to Nix. 'Did you know that it was in Athena's crown?'

Nix shook her head. 'When people search for things, they always look at what is levelled with them and below, never above. It's why some kids are good at hide-and-seek and others aren't.'

'We've lost a pearl?' Grover asked nervously.

'What are we going to do now?' Annabeth said, disgruntled.

'Don't be so disappointed,' Nix interrupted the gloom-fest. 'Check the map.'

'Yeah!' Will exclaimed. 'There might be another pearl out there.'

Wallowing in her disappointment, Annabeth obviously hadn't thought of that so she blushed furiously before grabbing the map from her pocket. She opened it and just like Will had suggested, there was another pearl out there.

'So the treasure hunt continues,' Nix said cheerfully.


	6. Chapter 6

They all sighed as they collapsed into the booth at a diner.

They hadn't eaten or showered in a while and they were exhausted from the walk they had taken since their car had run out of gas. They all complained about food which led to their current predicament.

'You got any money?' the waitress asked.

The group glanced nervously around each other. Before they could come up with sob story to tell the waitress, a rumble shook the building: a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant pulling into the curb and all conversation in the diner stopped.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He dressed in a red muscle shirt, black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades and he had a cruel, brutal face with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations.

'You got any money?' the waitress repeated.

'It's on me,' the biker said, sliding into the booth which was already full without him. Nix had to sit on Will's lap to make any room for the biker to fit without squishing someone against the window. The biker looked at the waitress, who was gapping at him, and said, 'Are you still here?' He pointed at her and she stiffened than marched back to the kitchen.

'Who are you?' Nix asked bluntly.

Annabeth winced while Luke scowled. 'Nix, this is Lord Ares, god of war.'

Nix blinked and opened her mouth to say something when Will snapped. 'What do you want?'

Annabeth's eyes flashed in warning but Ares just shrugged and grinned. 'I heard you were in town. Got a proposition for you.'

Before anything else could be said, the waitress came back with heaping trays of food – cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings and chocolate milkshakes. Ares handed her a dew gold drachmas but she stayed behind.

'We don't –' she started.

'You've got a problem?' Ares interrupted pulling out a knife and cleaning his finger nails with it. The waitress took the drachmas and hurried along.

'We're busy,' Will snapped. 'Don't have time to do errands for you.'

'Yeah, I know all about your little quest,' Ares sneered. 'You think you're the first to go looking for the master bolt? Apollo, Athena, Artemis and me, the best trackers, were sent by Zeus to look for it. If I couldn't find it, I doubt you can.'

'Well, you're not much. . .' Will muttered.

'What's your proposition?' Luke cut in before more words could be said, though he looked just as upset as Will about Ares presence.

'Even if there was something you wanted us to do, we wouldn't do it anyway.' Grover stared at Will with wide eyes and his mouth open. Nix was just as surprised: in the short time that she had known Will, she had never heard him speak with such hatred. Nix looked between Ares and Will, making a connection.

Ares' power was causing Will's sudden anger. It would explain why feelings of anger, resentment and bitterness that Nix thought she had buried were resurfacing.

'Why should we do anything for you, Ares?' Luke rephrased.

'Because I can arrange you a free ride west,' Ares answered. 'And I believe there's something there you are searching for.'

The group glanced at each other, reminding themselves that they were on a deadline and they currently didn't have a ride.

'What's the proposition?' Luke repeated and Ares smirked.

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'I can't believe we're doing this,' Will muttered for about the hundredth time. He hadn't stopped complaining since they left the diner to retrieve Ares' shield.

'You can't just ignore a god,' Annabeth said. 'Unless you want bad fortune.'

Ares had ordered them to find his shield which he had left at a water park where he was on a date with Aphrodite which ended earlier than he had wanted. They only agreed because Ares had promised a ride and they really didn't want to anger a summons from a god.

'Why does he need us?' Will asked.

'Maybe it's a problem that requires brains,' Annabeth guessed. 'Ares has strength, that's all he has. Even strength has to bow down to wisdom sometimes.'

'That. . .or he's just lazy,' Nix said. 'And if one god knows what we're doing, what's to say that the others don't either?'

Nix walked towards WATERLAND, though the sign just said WAT R A D. The gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire while inside, huge dry waterslides with tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the tarmac. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

'How do we get in?' Annabeth asked.

'_Maia!_' Grover's shoes sprouted wings. He flew over the gate and barbed wire, performing an unintentional somersault and stumbled to a landing on the other side.

'Show off,' Will deadpanned. 'We'll have to go over the old-fashioned way.'

The shadows grew long as they walked through the park, checking out attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit? No monsters came to get them, nothing made the slightest noise. They found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards and racks of –

'Clothes,' said Annabeth. 'Fresh clothes.'

Luke ran forward and snatched an entire rack of stuff then disappeared into the changing rooms, everyone but Nix following after him. Soon they walked out decked out like a walking advertisement for the defunct theme park.

Are's shield, a polished circle of bronze, was in a marooned boat in the Tunnel of Love: an empty pool and around the rim were a thousand bronze cupids, wings apart and bows ready to fire. On the other side from them was an opened tunnel where the water probably went into when the pool had been full the sign above read: THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE.

'Come on,' Luke said, grabbing Annabeth's wrist. 'Let's grab it and get out of here.' Annabeth's face was completely red as Luke dragged her towards the Tunnel of Love.

Nix let out a deep breath. 'Grover,' Nix called. 'Stay here and call if anything happens while we go look for that pearl.'

'You think something might happen?' Will asked concerned.

'It's always good to be prepared,' Nix said. 'And Ares' afraid of something to not come here himself. This looks too easy.'

'So, where to look first?' Will asked.

Nix rolled her neck. She closed her eyes and lifted her arm and spun around before suddenly stopping. 'That way,' she said, nodding her head towards wherever her finger had been pointing.

Will raised an eyebrow. 'Really?'

Nix shrugged. 'You've got any better ideas?'

They headed to the attractions first before heading to the gift shops and abandoned food stalls but they could find no sign of a small blue pearl. They met back up when they heard Annabeth scream 'Spiders!' and Grover calling for their help.

Back at the Tunnel of Love, tiny metal spiders were crawling around Annabeth as she screamed her lungs out while Luke dragged her back to the boat and Grover tried to open a section in the net, only for the golden threads to wrap around his fingers. A countdown was being announced.

Nix glanced around. 'Grover!' she yelled. 'Get to the control booth! Turn this ride on!'

'But –'

'Do it!'

'Luke,' she yelled to him. 'Strap in!'

Grover got to the control booth and slammed away at the buttons. He lifted his hands, telling Nix that every button had been pressed and yet nothing was happening.

'_Infragilis_.' Nix waved her hand at the boat and it glowed blue as the pipes exploded, the water sweeping the metal spiders away. Nix manipulated the boat so that it entered the tunnel.

'Luke and Annabeth better hold on,' Nix said seriously. 'I can't control the boat if I can't see it.'

'What did you do?' Will asked.

'I made the boat unbreakable,' Nix said. 'Let's hope that it's enough to keep them alive.'

Nix ran to the end of the tunnel: the Gates of Love. If the ride was in working order, they would sail off a ramp through the Gates of Love and splash down safely in the exit pool. Only the Gates of Love were chained.

Nix heard a _crack!_ The boat smashed against the gate and Luke and Annabeth soared through the sky, probably having gained too much lift, over the gate, over the pool and down towards solid tarmac. Nix lifted her hand to slow their descent but then Nix stumbled, falling to all fours and gasping for breath as dark figures approached from the corner of her vision.

Grover flew over to catch them, grabbing Annabeth by her collar and Luke by his arm, but they were heavy and the landing had not been pleasant. Once everyone was on their feet, they made their way back to Will and Nix only to see Nix convulse.

'What's wrong with her?' Annabeth ran over concerned.

'I don't know!' Will yelled hysterical. 'All I can tell is that she's got a fever!'

'I-I-I'm f-f-fine,' Nix panted. 'J-j-just need to r-r-rest.'

Will picked her up princess style and hurried to the gate while Luke glared at the cupid statues at the entrance pool which were still filming. 'Screw you!' he yelled.

'Luke, calm down,' Annabeth said, dragging Luke away from the Tunnel of Love as the cupids stopped filming and returned to their original positions.


	7. Chapter 7

'You didn't get yourself killed.'

Ares was waiting for them in the diner parking lot.

Luke and Will scowled. Luke threw Ares shield at him, hoping that it would hit him in the face, only to be disappointed when Ares caught the shield, spinning in like a pizza as it changed into a vest which Ares put on.

'Will,' Nix said from where she was in his arms. 'Take me into the diner.'

'Okay,' Will agreed. He turned to the group. 'You deal with this. . .thing.'

Nix raised a shaking hand to call the waitress from where she stood with the chef who was taking a picture of the scene outside. Once the waitress came over, Nix ordered a canister of milk. She took a drink.

'Milk?' asked Will. 'Why milk?'

'It helps with my problem,' Nix answered. 'We just have to get to Las Vegas where I'll meet up with Hedwig and I'll be fine afterwards.' Will watched as her shaking lessened but he was still worried.

'If you're sure,' Will said uncertainly. There was a rumble and when they looked through the window, Ares motorcycle sped off. 'Let's go.'

Once outside, Will asked, 'We've got a ride?'

'Yeah,' Annabeth said, pointing towards an eighteen wheeler had a sign on its back, which they could only read because it was black reversed printed on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS. 'It'll take us straight to L.A with one stop at Las Vegas.'

'What's with the bag?' Nix asked, indicating the blue nylon backpack.

'Gifts from Ares,' Luke answered displeased. He glanced at the diner. 'Let's go.'

.

Despite what the sign on the truck said, kindness was not what they delivered.

Nix narrowed her eyes in concentration. _'Lumos.'_ A small ball of light appeared in her hand but it flickered and died. Nix sighed. 'Grover, grab my lantern.' Grover came over carrying a square lantern and when Nix tried the spell again, she quickly shoved the ball of light into the lantern where it was stronger than when it had come out of her hand.

Using the light, they saw that inside the truck was a row of filthy metal cages holding a zebra, male albino lion and an antelope. The lion had a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat, while the zebra and antelope got trays of hamburger meat. There was chewing gum in the lion's man and there was a balloon attached to one of the antelope's horns that read OVER THE HILL.

Grover looked prepared to march right out of the truck to beat up the truckers, but the engine started and they were forced to sit down or fall down.

During the ride, they tried to help the animals out a bit. First swapping their food and then getting rid of the gum in the lion's mane and the balloon off the antelope's horn. Annabeth wanted to let them out of their cages but Will pointed out that the lion still looked hungry so that idea was thrown out.

Grover curled up on a turnip sack, Luke next to him while Annabeth and Will sat opposite them with Nix breathing heavily between them and the lantern in the middle. Grover began to whimper and muttered under his breath. Knowing what was happening; Nix grabbed her rubber ball and threw it at his head. He sat up with a gasp.

'Thalia again?' Nix asked and Grover gave a miserable nod. She noticed Annabeth wince. 'Who is Thalia?'

Annabeth winced. 'She's a friend. . .she got turned into a tree.'

Nix gave them a confused look.

'Thalia was a Daughter of Zeus,' Luke replied angrily. 'Before she could reach the safety of the camp, the monsters overwhelmed her and as she died, her father turned her into a pine tree.'

'Was she powerful?' Nix asked, knowing that stronger half-bloods attracted lots of monsters.

Grover nodded his head dejectedly. 'Children of the Big Three tend to be, but Thalia had the anger of Hades thrust upon her. After World War II, Zeus and Poseidon forced Hades into an oath to have no more children and Hades was furious when he discovered Thalia. He sent the worst monsters from Tartarus after her.'

'But why are you having nightmares, Grover?' Annabeth asked concerned. 'You haven't had one in years.'

'Because Nix won't go to camp,' Grover said depressingly. 'The older she gets, the stronger she becomes. It won't be long before she faces a monster she can't defeat especially without a celestial bronze weapon. You're little trick won't help forever, Nix.'

'You worry too much, Grover,' Nix sighed.

Grover sniffed. 'I'm your friend. I'm meant to worry.'

.

Nix sat in a classroom with a girl with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy green eyes and freckles across her nose. They both wore straitjackets but the girl was the only one struggling while Nix just sat there.

The girl stopped struggling for a moment to glare at Nix. 'Well? One of us has to get out of here.'

She was right. The straitjacket melted off and the dream changed into a deep, dark pit. The voice wasn't talking to her this time but to someone else.

_Yes, the exchange went well, I see,_ it said. _And they suspects nothing?_

_Nothing, my lord._ The other person answered, a voice she recognized. _They are as ignorant as always._

_Deception upon deception,_ it mused aloud. _Excellent. Do not fail me again._

_Truly, my lord_ said the other voice. _You are well-named the Crooked One. Soon, I will have my revenge._

_Yes, my little servant. Our six months have brought us much. You will have your wish. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands. . .but wait. Someone is here._

_What?_ The servant sounded tense. _You summoned them, my lord?_

_No._ The full force of the voice's attention was on her. _They brought themselves here._

_Impossible!_ The servant cried.

_For a weakling such as you, perhaps_ the voice snarled. _This one is strong_.

It turned back to her and forcefully pushed her out of the vision, the image of destruction lingering her mind and mocking laughter echoing in her ears.

.

They'd just released animals into Las Vegas.

They ran through the boulevard in the forty degree wind, passing the Monte Carlo and the MGM. There were pyramids, a pirate ship and a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. They had no idea where they were going.

Soon, they found themselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking but no one was going in or out. The glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air conditioning that smelled like flowers – lotus blossoms.

The doorman smiled. 'Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?'

The group was rightly suspicious but they glanced at Nix in Luke's arms who looked worse for wear and breathing heavily. They would need to rest before they went to search for Hedwig or get some help so they accepted the doorman's offer. Inside, they took one look around, and Grover said, 'Whoa.'

The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor water slide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, an indoor bungee-jumping bridge, virtual reality games and hundreds of video games. You name it, the place had it. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you could imagine.

A bellhop appeared and gave them their room key, saying how the bill had been taken care of. He also gave them green plastic credit cards, which the bellhop called LotusCash cards that worked on everything in the casino.

'All those channels,' Will told Annabeth incredulously, 'and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?'

'It's interesting,' Annabeth objected. 'So what now? Sleep?'

Will and Grover looked at each other and grinned. They held up their Lotuscash cards and said, 'Play time!' before running out the room, grinning ear to ear.

Nix had a bad feeling so went with them, not wanting to be alone. That feeling, along with the feeling of being sick, immediately left her when she ate one of the Lotus Casino's Lotus Flowers. She was able to join the others in the game room, moving through the video games and food stalls. She spent most of her time in the bungee-jumping bridge and water slide: anything that involve getting high up.

Nix was about to grab another Lotus Flower that a waitress was offering when her arm jerked and she made the waitress drop her plate. She stuttered out an apology and then walked off slowly, rejecting the waitresses offer for help. Her legs couldn't hold her anymore and the next thing she knew, she was falling.

Everything went dark.


	8. Chapter 8

'_Dark witch, dark witch, dark witch!'_

'_I didn't mean to hurt him. But why does it feel so right?'_

'_GIRL! Be quiet!' SMACK!_

'_My dear boy, you must return home.'_

'_That place is not home.'_

'_. . .that girl. We shouldn't go near her, she's weird.'_

'_I AM THE GREATEST WIZARD OF ALL TIME! YOU WILL SERVE ME!. . .Or die.'_

'_YOU FREAK!'_

'_I wish you didn't exist.'_

.

Nix woke up, face down, on the floor. She tried to sit up but her arms were so weak that it was an effort to just push herself up into a sitting position. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the black spots in the corner of her vision and the voices echoing in her ears. Nix was about to try to get up again when a concerned voice said, 'Are you okay?'

Nix looked up at the boy. He had olive skin and black messy and shaggy hair that looked like he had just gotten out of bed, reminding her of James' hair. Nix nodded. 'Yeah,' she said, 'I'm fine.' She gulped. 'You wouldn't mind helping me find my friends, would you?'

'Sure! Um. . .what do they look like?' the boy asked, helping Nix stand up. 'My name's Nico, by the way.'

'Nix. A blond girl and boy. The girl should be at some architecture game,' Nix said.

'I know a game!' Nico said.

Nix followed the excited boy, stopping and leaning on the nearest object whenever her legs felt like jelly, to a 3-D sim game where you could build your own city and actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. There they found Annabeth, building an impressive city.

'Come on,' Nix told her. 'We've got to get out of here.'

No response.

Nix shook her. Annabeth looked up, annoyed. 'What?'

'We need to leave.'

'Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers –'

'This place is a trap.' Nix had to shake her again. 'Listen. The Underworld. Your quest!'

'Just a few more minutes.'

'No! You check in, and you stay forever.'

'So?' Annabeth asked. 'Can you imagine a better place?'

Nix grabbed Annabeth's collar. 'We – need – to – leave.' With each word, she shook Annabeth hard and when she was done, she let go, leaving Annabeth disorientated. Nix snapped her fingers near Annabeth's ears. 'You awake? You there?' she asked and Annabeth nodded jerkily. Nix left out a deep sigh then noticed bellhops approaching. 'Good. Now go to the exit. I need to find Will.' Annabeth gave a nod and run off.

Nix turned to Nico. 'Thanks for the help, but you should leave.'

Nico opened his mouth to protest when he saw her swaying but Nix just pushed magic into her limbs and ran off before he could be say anything only to bump into another bellhop.

'Woah,' he said. 'Is everything alright?'

Nix pushed him off her and ran. She was stopped by a waitress who asked her if she wanted another Lotus Flower and when she turned around, she was cornered by another waitress and soon she was surrounded by waitresses asking: 'Would you like another Lotus Flower?' It was like a broken radio or an echo.

Nix took a deep breath. She jump, attempting to go over a table, but her legs were weak and it didn't help that a bellhop came out of nowhere and grabbed her ankle as she was in mid-air. She smashed onto the table while the roulette spun and her impact made the marble bounce onto the table – only it wasn't a marble.

She grabbed it and kicked the bellhop in the face before making her way towards the exit, where the others were waiting for her. She ran through an isle of slot machines and found Will playing the new Guitar Hero. Going for the fast approach, Nix slapped him and then dragged him towards the exit where Annabeth waited with Luke and Grover (who both had been flirting with girls in the dance club).

Once outside, they bolted.

[Az!]

Nix looked up just as Hedwig swooped in. She dropped a satchel which Nix opened to find her pills in which she quickly swallowed before she passed out. Hedwig also dropped a newspaper on top of Luke's head.

Will cursed. 'We've only one day until the summer solstice!'

.

It was Annabeth's idea. She piled them into cab and offered the driver her LotusCash card, only then did the driver agree to drive them all the way to Los Angeles as fast as he could. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety five.

'What are we going to do?' Grover worriedly asked. 'We've only got two pearls and we don't even know where the Underworld is!'

'Shhh!' they all hissed at him as the driver looked at them weirdly through his rear view mirror.

'Don't worry about the pearls,' Luke said. 'I found one in the bag Ares gave us so that gives us three. We just have to figure out where the entrance is and we can save to world.'

Nix stared at Grover. 'Do you want to go, Grover?'

Grover looked up. 'U-um. I d-don't kno-ow. Underground places and satyrs?' He shook his head. 'B-besides, we don't have another pearl.'

Nix pulled the marble she had grabbed from the roulette table in the Lotuc casino and the group gapped at it. 'Found it in the casino so you can go Grover.'

'But what about you? There isn't another and how am I going to find you again.'

'Drop me off at Santa Monica pier. I'll wait for you there.'

'Well, now that that's been sorted through,' Will interrupted, 'how are we going to find the entrance to the Underworld?'

'Hedwig will lead you.'

'Can she?' Annabeth asked. 'She hasn't been there before.'

'Hedwig is a magical owl,' Nix said. 'They're usually used as a postal service so they must know where the recipient is, even if the sender does not. Hedwig will find it.'

Nix was dropped at Santa Monica pier and waved as the taxi shot off. She stared down the beach.

She had something to do.


	9. Chapter 9

'Who did you use?'

Ares turned around to stare at the little girl. He grinned. 'Whatever do you mean?'

'Who is the Lightning Thief?' Nix rephrased her question.

'I have no idea what you're on about,' Ares replied.

Suddenly the girl was right in front of him and he sidestepped on instinct, thinking it was an attack, a stupid choice on the girl's part. But she ran right past him, grabbing the ski cap from his pocket and it immediately transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

'The helmet of darkness,' Nix announced.

Ares sneered. 'How did you know I had it?'

'I didn't,' she admitted. 'I had a dream about two items missing. The Furies were searching for something and they serve Hades. If Hades has the bolt, what is he searching for? I figured it must've been important to him if he sent his own personal servants to search for it. Unlike others, I don't immediately assume that Hades is the bad guy.'

'And how did you immediately assume I had it?'

'I had a dream,' Nix repeated. 'Now where is the lightning bolt?'

Ares grinned. 'It's with your little friends already. That backpack is the master bolt's sheath morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it. With a bit of tinkering, the bolt would return to it once they reached the Underworld.'

'But why not keep the bolt for yourself?' Nix asked. 'Why send it to Hades?'

Ares twitched and for a moment, it was like he was listening to another voice deep inside his head. He muttered under his breath and held the trance for one second. . .two seconds. . .then Ares' face cleared. 'I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing.'

'Liar,' Nix accused. 'Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?'

'Of course it was!' Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire. 'Once your friends are dead and the summer solstice passes, Zeus will declare war on Poseidon and Hades. Zeus will be mad at Hades for having his master bolt and Hades will be mad at both of them because he doesn't know who has his helmet. It'll be the best kind of war! With Poseidon caught in the middle.'

'Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items – not you,' Nix guessed. 'When Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief but something convinced you to let him go. That thing in the pit is ordering you around.'

'I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!'

'Who said anything about dreams?'

Ares looked agitated, but he covered it up with a smirk. 'Here's the problem kid. You know what I'm up to. I can't have you trying to fix things. You might actually get those hard-headed idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal.'

He snapped his fingers and the sand exploded at his feet. Out charged a wild boar, pawing the ground and glaring at Nix, waiting for the command to kill.

'Not going to fight me yourself, Ares?'

Ares snorted. 'Please. You don't even have a weapon, it'll be too easy.'

'Scared?'

'In you adolescent dreams.' His glasses began to melt from the heat of his eyes. 'No direct involvement. You're not on my level.'

The boar charged.

Nix blinked and her eyes turned to emerald. She swung her arm and the boar flew backwards towards Ares who sidestepped and the boar hit a tree and vanished.

'Is that the best you've got?' he asked.

'What do you think?' Nix smirked. She pushed forward.

Ares stumbled back and Nix threw the helm up which Hedwig caught with her talons as she flew in and turned back in time to dodge a huge, two-handed sword with a large silver skull that had a ruby in its mouth as a hilt. She drew her knife and blocked Ares' attack.

'Big mistake attacking me, girl,' Ares sneered.

Nix pushed Ares' sword off and waved her hand, making a wave collide with Ares. As Ares spluttered, the water began the wrap around him like a cocoon with on the head exposed. Ares broke out of the cocoon easily and Nix attacked him with a whip of water which he cut in half. Ares began to charge as Nix narrowed her eyes and the droplets of water became needles, knocking off his glasses and splashing into his eyes.

Ares sight cleared, only to see Nix stabbing him in the side and knocking him to his knees. She jumped back, standing in a battle position, prepared for the next attack from Ares.

Ares stared at his wounds where ichor, the blood of the gods, flowed from the gash. The expression on Ares' face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock and disbelief that he had been injured by a little girl with a simple knife.

He stumbled towards Nix, muttering ancient Greek curses.

Something stopped him.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded, sound and colour drained away. A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing and making it feel like life was hopeless, that fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned.

Ares lowered his sword.

'You have made an enemy, godling,' he told Nix. 'You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware.'

His body began to glow. Nix looked away because if she looked, she would have disintegrated into ashes and only looked back when the light died and Ares was gone.

Nix dropped her sword and ran towards the water. As she stepped into water, the water curled up her leg and wrapped around her body until she was completely covered in water. If a mundane were to look at that moment, they would see a figure made of water before it collapsed and lost its form.

Nix opened her eyes in in the shadows of the Valencia Boulevard, looking at the golden letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS. Stencilled on the glass doors underneath was: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING. The water dropped down to the ground and she caught the helm as it fell into her hands, running into the lobby of spirits.

Nix jumped through the elevator doors just as they were about to close.

'Oy!' said a voice. 'No freeloaders!'

Nix assumed that this was Charon. He was tall and elegant with chocolate coloured skin and bleached blonde hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair with a black rose pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag with his name on it.

Nix held up the helmet and Charon gapped. 'You really want to talk about this now?'

The elevator began to descend and then it went forward. The air turned misty and the spirits started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered turning into grey hooded robes. The floor began to sway and when Nix looked down, she found herself now standing on a wooden barge. Above was a ceiling of stalactites and ahead was a shore that glimmered with greenish light, the colour of poison.

Charon's creamy Italian suit was replaced by a long black robe. His glasses were gone and where his eyes should've been were empty sockets – totally dark, full of night, death and despair. He poled the barge across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish and other stranger things – plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

Craggy rocks and black volcanic stretched inland to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as you could see. The mournful keening of an animal echoed off the stones. Once the shore was close enough, Nix jumped off the barge and ran off, shouting a 'thanks' behind her to Charon.

Nix ran past Erebus and Cerberus, who looked depressed for some reason, which was easy whenever she showed the helm. She ran past the Fields when she heard the familiar the sound of battle and the Furies screeching: 'Where is it? Give it back now!'

Following the sounds, Nix entered some kind of tunnel which widened into a huge dark cavern and in the middle was the chasm the size of a city block. All three blonds were fighting a Fury each, which wasn't easy since they were in the Furies territory. Grover seemed to be fighting against Luke, who was trying to make his way towards the cabin with the bag Ares had said was the master bolt's sheath.

'How could you Luke?!' Annabeth exclaimed. 'How could you betray our parents?!'

'Their precious 'Western Civilisation' is a disease, Annabeth,' Luke sneered, his scar making him look evil. 'It's killing the world. The only way to stop it is to burn it to the ground, start over with something more honest.'

'Kronos is brainwashing you Luke!' Grover shouted.

'You're wrong!' Luke yelled. 'He showed me my talents are being wasted!'

'Thalia gave her life to save you! To save us!' Annabeth said through gritted teeth. 'And this is how you repay her?'

'Don't speak of Thalia!' he shouted, more angry than ever. 'The gods _let_ her die! That's one of the many things they will pay for.'

'You're being used, Luke!' Will yelled. 'Don't listen to Kronos!'

'_I've _been used?' Luke's voice turned shrill. 'Look at yourself. What have our parents ever done for us? The darkness is gathering. Kronos will rise!' Luke broke pass the Fury and pushed Grover out of the way.

A Fury was about to follow when something was shoved into her hands and a blur ran right past her. Luke was about to toss the bag into the pit when something collided with him, pushing him over the edge of the chasm. Luke closed his eyes on instinct, thinking he was about to die when the bag was yanked out of his hand.

An invisible force pushed him and his body made contact with jagged walls of rock. He clung onto the little platform he was falling off of and looked up, staring into emerald eyes that flickered to sea green.

'Nix?' he grunted in surprise at the girl who pressed her back against the rocks to so that she wouldn't lose balance on the small platform she had to stand on. His eyes flickered to the bag she clutched to her chest. 'Give me the bag Nix.'

Nix shook her head. 'No.'

'Kronos must have the item to help him rise,' Luke said.

'I know,' Nix said. 'But I have no intention in helping him do so.'

'Why?' Luke questioned. 'I thought you hated the gods?'

'I'm not fond of them, that's true,' Nix admitted. 'But I'm not fond in living under Kronos' rule either.'

Nix pulled out a pearl from her pocket.

'Nix. Kronos will rise,' Luke assisted. 'Help us and he will reward you with anything you want.'

Nix crushed the pearl under her foot. 'You shouldn't believe everything Kronos says.' Nix was encased in a bubble and it began to rise. 'You know the way out.' The bubble vanished into darkness.

.

.

Nix might end up with Nico – I've never been good with writing romance.

I'm glad a lot of you like _**Unknown**_and thank you for the lovely comments!


	10. Chapter 10

The bubble popped, leaving Nix in the lobby of the Empire State Building. Annabeth stopped pacing to stare at her while Grover and Will (who was trying to cheer Grover up) looked up and gaped.

Nix was enveloped in a hug. 'Nix!' Grover cried. 'You're okay!'

'Of course I am,' Nix bragged. 'I'm very hard to kill.'

'How did you get out of the Underworld?' Annabeth asked as Grover moved to allow Will to hug Nix. 'How'd you get out of Tartarus for that matter?'

'I had an extra pearl,' Nix revealed. 'The one you guys thought you lost in the Pantheon. I was thinking I might join you in the Underworld but something came up.'

'What?' Will asked.

'I'll tell you on the way to Olympus.'

Annabeth walked to the guard at the front desk and took a key card from him. When the elevator doors closed, she slipped the key into the security slot and it disappeared. A new button appeared on the console, a red on that said 600.

To cover up the unfitting music in the elevator as it slowly descended to the top, Nix told her story.

'Kronos has been speaking to me in my dreams,' she said. 'I eavesdropped on a conversation between him and his servant – Luke – about two items going missing: the lightning bolt and Hades' helm of darkness.' Annabeth, Will and Grover gasped. 'Kronos talked about an exchange and the dream came to me after we met Ares. So after you went into the Underworld, I confronted Ares and took back the helm. I gave it to the Furies in the Underworld before I pushed Luke into Tartarus.'

'So we've been duped,' Annabeth deduced. 'Once WWIII started, the gods would be too busy fighting each other to notice Kronos trying to come back. He would have more to gain from war between the Big Three.'

'Exactly.'

On that happy note, the doors slid open and the stepped out onto a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below was Manhattan and in front were white marble steps that wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky.

'Wow,' Annabeth said awed.

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, summit covered in snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces – a city of mansions – all with white columned porticos, gilded terraces and bronze braziers glowing with thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. There was an open-air market filled with colourful tents, a stone amphitheatre built on one side of the mountains, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins. It was new, clean an colourful; the way Athens must've looked twenty five hundred years ago.

As they made their way towards the Throne Room, you couldn't help but notice that no one was worried about an impeding civil war, more in a festive mood.

Twelve thrones arranged in an inverted U, built for giant humans. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. All thrones were empty except for two: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left.

Zeus, Lord of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit in a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled grey and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud, handsome and grim, his eyes rainy grey.

Poseidon was dressed very differently, wearing leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over. His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black and his sea green eyes were surrounded by crinkles that said he smiled lot while his face held a brooding look. His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair, a simple swivelling kind with black leather seat and built in holster for a fishing pole which held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips.

They bowed and Annabeth laid the lightning bolt at Zeus' feet.

'Who was the thief?' Zeus asked.

Annabeth and Grover shared a glance, hesitant to answer but Will didn't have such a close relationship with Luke so he had no problem answering. 'It was Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes.'

Zeus and Poseidon shared a glance. 'Explain,' Zeus boomed.

'When you sent Ares to search for the thief,' Nix began, 'he caught Luke. However, something was able to convince Ares to not turn Luke in and help him instead. I confronted him to retrieve Hades' helm of darkness and Ares admitted to having dreams.' The gods' faces remained neutral. 'While I did this –'

'- we were in the Underworld,' Annabeth added in, 'since we believed Hades had order the theft. While there, Luke betrayed us and attempted to throw the lightning bolt into Tartarus but was unable to because through the interference from the Kindly Ones and Nix.'

Will took over. 'Nix and Luke fell into the pit. Using Persephone's Pearls, we were all able to escape the Underworld so we can assume that Luke escaped Tartarus the same way.'

'This won't be the last time we see Luke,' Grover added. 'He seems determined to help Kronos rise and bring Olympus down brick by brick.'

Poseidon and Zeus glanced at each other and had an intense discussion in Ancient Greek, Poseidon made some kind of suggestion but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue and Zeus held up his hand angrily. 'We will speak of this no more,' Zeus said. 'I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos to remove the human taint from its metal.'

'You have done us a great favour,' Poseidon said. 'We thank you.'

With a blinding flash and a swirl of ocean water, Zeus and Poseidon were gone.

As the group exited the Throne Room and walked through the streets of Greek city, the residents bowed to them, like they were heroes.

.

Nix went with Annabeth and Will to Camp Half-Blood, much to the joy of Grover. They went to the Big House to meet Chiron and tell him about Luke's betrayal.

Chiron pursed his lips. 'I must tell the camp,' he said. 'The information about Kronos. . .keep it to yourselves. We don't want to cause panic.' He turned to Nix. 'So you're the mysterious Nix,' he said. 'You've been causing dear Grover a lot of trouble haven't you?'

'Grover's a stalker,' Nix said bluntly. 'Aren't you supposed to be a centaur?'

Chiron was a middle aged man in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket.

'Ah, yes,' Chiron replied. 'I usually prefer this for first encounters.'

'I've seen centaurs before.'

Chiron nodded. 'Well, I'm Chiron, the activities director and this is Mr D, the camp director.'

Mr D was small but porky. He had a red nose, watery eyes and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-patterned Hawaiian shirt and looked like he had been hitting the happy juice recently. Grocer seemed to fidget even more around him.

He looked at her with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. 'Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you.'

'Just as long as you don't expect the same from me.'

'Chiron,' Will called. 'I'll show Nix around the camp.'

Chiron nodded. 'Very well, William.' Will twitched. 'Annabeth, dear, could you check on Nix's bunk in Cabin Eleven?'

'Sure Chiron,' said Annabeth before she ran off.

'I'm tired,' Mr D announced. 'I believe I'll take a nap before the feast tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk.'

Grover's face beaded with sweat. 'Y-yes, sir.'

Mr D turned the Nix. 'Cabin Eleven, Nixie. And mind your manners.' He swept into the farmhouse with Grover following miserably.

'I thought Grover grew a spine while he stayed with me,' Nix commented.

Will snorted. 'Mr D scares most satyrs. He'll be fine. Now let's go.'

.

On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a firework display be cabin nine. Being Hephaestus' kids, they weren't going to settle for lame explosions. According to Annabeth, the blasts would be sequence so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky.

As Annabeth and Nix spread a picnic basket, Grover came to say goodbye, having finally received his searcher's license for bringing Nix back to camp and going on a quest with her. A searcher license was given to satyrs (when they successfully brought a half-blood to camp) so that they could search for Pan, the god they believed was still alive though stories told he died years ago. Grover had grown older, having been the equivalent of a middle schooler for six years, and was in his human disguise. He couldn't tell them where he was going but he promised to find Pan and be the first satyr to come back alive. That didn't exactly make anyone feel any better.

'Are you going to go live with your dad during the school year?' Nix asked.

'Nah,' Annabeth drawled, playing with her camp necklace. 'My dad and I. . .we don't have a working relationship.'

'What's your situation with your dad?' Nix asked. 'It can't be as bad as mine.'

Annabeth snorted. 'I doubt it. My dad's resented me since the day I was born, seeing me as an inconvenience. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back but she said that heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent. When I was five, he got married and got a 'regular' mortal wife and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist.

'My stepmom treated me like a freak – wouldn't let me play with her children and my father went along with it. When something dangerous happened, they looked at me like it was my fault. Finally, I left, met up with Thalia and. . .Luke then came to camp.'

'You ran away Annabeth,' Nix said. 'At least you weren't thrown out.' Annabeth looked at her in confusion. 'After my mom died, my stepdad only payed attention to my brother, his son. I was pushed to the back. Quite literally actually since he gave me a broom closet as a bedroom.' Annabeth gaped. 'Yeah. Give your dad a chance after all; children aren't the only ones who grow up.'

'I've already tried to give him a chance,' Annabeth said. 'My stepmom was still the same and my father. . .he just did nothing.'

'The only real problem is your stepmom then,' Nix said. 'Or maybe it's you who has the problem: you don't like your father forgetting about Athena but Athena won't come back to your dad – can't come back. He's not going to keep on living in a love once lost. He's going to move on.'

'When did you become my counsellor?' Annabeth asked.

Nix shrugged. 'My family fell apart and failed. I don't like it when someone still has a chance to get their family back together and not take it.'

'Aren't you being a hypocrite?' Annabeth asked. 'Your family's still out there and you're not doing anything.'

'Oh, I did something. At least with my brother: he did nothing wrong, he was just a kid. My stepdad's not getting a moment of my time.'

'You have a brother?'

Nix nodded. 'The problem with having a hero as a brother is that you're usually pushed to the background, no longer important.'

The gloomy conversation stopped by explosions of light and colour, the night sky coming to life.

The last night of the summer session, the campers had one last meal together and the senior counsellors awarded the end of summer beads. The counsellors would pick the most important event of the summer and paint it on that year's bead .The design was pitch black, with a blue lightning bolt shimmering in the centre to commemorate the quest to the Underworld and the search for the master bolt.

Will and Nix were walking towards the beach after they had said goodbye to Annabeth (and Nix had threatened her father) where Nix would leave the camp.

'Why do you need to go the beach to leave?' Will asked. 'Why not leave the old fashion way past Thalia's pine.'

'There's a chance I might be attacked on my way back to my place,' Nix answered. 'The beach is the safest and fastest way.'

'How?' Will questioned, an incredulous look on his face.

'Teleportation,' Nix asked simply.

'Teleportation. . .' Will deadpanned.

'Yeah,' Nix said. 'I can teleport to any place as long as I know what it looks like. I usually do it with water but I can do it without but I tend to get injured using it that way: once, I almost lost an arm.'

Will stared at her blankly as she stepped into the surf and the water swirled around her body until it was completely covered from head to toe. The water finally obeyed the law of gravity and crashed back down to the sand, leaving no trace that Nix had been there previously.

.

Nix blinked and stared.

The opposing person blinked and stared.

Nix opened her mouth to speak but it stood up and tried to hide behind the structure that led to the stairs.

Nix had climbed up the fire escape onto the roof of an apartment building at East 100, 4th and 1st Avenue. The rooftops of the city were Nix's living space. She'd go to a rooftop and set up a magical tent (which was bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside) that held a kitchen, two bunks and (surprisingly) a shower. If she ever needed to go to the bathroom, she'd either use the public ones or break into an apartment.

Nix felt it staring at her and stared back as the single brown eye blinked and looked at her curiously.

This had been an eventful year.

.

.

Last chapter for the _Lightning Thief_ portion of this story and onto _Sea of Monsters_! This is where the story will diverge a little from the original so I hope your enjoy my version of the story.

Thanks for the comments!


	11. Chapter 11

Hey, I'm not dead!

Sorry about the late update but I've been busy with school, stuff and editing. Anyway. . .here is the start of _Sea of Monsters _Arc - won't change much from the original (I'm not a good writer, am !?)

* * *

In the morning before the sun rose across the horizon, an owl flew in through the window over to a figure, shrouded in shadows. The silhouette rummaged through the pantry, grabbing stuff and placing them in a bag that they held in one hand.

It was pretty obvious this was a thief.

Suddenly, the figure disappeared, just simply gone, leaving behind the bag which owl grabbed and flew out the window with.

In another room, the walls stacked with books, the titles of which could not be seen, with stairs and balconies that winded around the walls, leading to the higher levels, the shadowy figure appeared from thin air. It seemed to know exactly where it was going, like it had been inside many of times, pulling out books and placing them in another bag.

The owl flew back in and grabbed the bag while the shadow disappeared once again.

.

Grover ran through Florida, his hooves clattering on the pavement, his shoes in his hand in the need for speed. He glanced back behind him and gulped before increasing his speed. A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm and behind Grover, at the far end of the block, loomed a shadowy figure that swatted aside a street lamp which burst into a shower of sparks.

Grover whimpered. He muttered, 'Have to get away. Have to warn them!'

The ground shook as the shadow came closer. Grover dashed around a corner and faltered: he'd run into dead-end courtyard full of shops with no time to back up. He dashed into St Augustine Bridal Boutique, the door having been banged open by the storm, and hid behind a rack of wedding dress.

Grover smelled it before he spotted its shadow pass the front of the store – a combination of wet sheep wool, rotten meet and the weird sour body odour that monsters had, like a skunk living off Mexican food.

The monster's shadow passed on and Grover took a deep breath as the rain continued to fall. Maybe it was gone?

Lightning flashed and the entire front of the store exploded. A monstrous voice bellowed, 'MIIIIINE!'

.

Nix concentrated on the fork, willing it to move. It twitched but that was about it. She sighed in frustration before turning around and vanishing, returning to her body that rested in a hammock that had been in the corner of the room. Nix stared at the fork from across the room and she blinked. The fork flung from the table, impaling itself into the wall.

Nix slouched and made her way to the deck of the _Queen Anne's Revenge_, where her next exercise waited.

School was a tedious thing but an education was a must in life so home-school was the next best thing, especially when you had control over your own schedule. Even if she had enough money that she didn't have to work in her lifetime, life would get extremely boring – even the life of a demigod.

Nix was currently on a ship docked in an island in the Sea of Monsters with a Cyclops that went by the name of Tyson that she had taken off the streets. The island in particular was host to C.C's spa and resort, owned by Circe who was a Daughter of Hecate with a massive library on anything but Nix was being careful to avoid the place itself or else something like last time would happen.

_Flashback:_

_Nix focused on breathing. In. Out. In. Out._

_She tried to ignore the voices as her body ached with pain. Ignore the images – the memories that weren't her own – as she stared at Circe with blank eyes._

_'Accept my offer and I'll make you better,' Circe promised, holding up her pills. 'I'll also cure your disability if only you serve me.'_

_'If your charm speak didn't work before, what makes you think that it will work now,' Nix whispered very slowly, taking a breath for every word._

_'That just shows that you are powerful – so much potential, so much willpower.' Circe sighed. 'I haven't used charm speak on you for a while – it doesn't work.'_

_'So you've resorted to potions,' Nix mumbled as dark spots appeared in her vision. 'You've slipped something into my food.'_

_'Yes. That is true.' Circe admitted with no shame. She looked at the small body in front of her who stared back with glazed eyes, shivering with a fever. 'Accept the offer to be my student, my servant, my attendant and I can make the pain go away: I can make you better.'_

_'I will not be bound. Especially to you.'_

_Before Circe could react, Nix was gone._

.

Grover was wearing a wedding dress. It didn't fit him well: the gown was too long and the neckline kept falling off his shoulders. A tattered veil covered his face. He was standing in a dank cave, lit only by torches, a cot in one corner, an old fashioned loom in another with a half woven cloth on the frame.

Grover was looking at her like she was a TV programme he'd been waiting for. 'Thank the gods!' he yelped. 'Can you hear me?'

Nix raised an eyebrow at him like he was stupid. There was a stench of sheep and goats, their sounds echoing from behind a refrigerator sized boulder that blocked the room's only exit. 'What's going on, Grover?'

From behind the boulder, a monstrous voice yelled, 'Honey-pie! Are you done yet?'

Grover flinched. He called out in falsetto, 'Not quite, dearest! A few more days.'

Whatever the monster was, it was terrible at maths: didn't even know how many days were in two weeks.

Grover turned back to her. 'You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this cave. On an island in the sea.

'Where?'

'I don't know exactly! I went to Florida and turned left.'

'What? How did you –'

'It's a trap!' Grover said. 'It's the reason no satyr has ever returned from this quest. He's a shepherd, Nix! And he has it. Its nature magic is so powerful it smells just like the great god, Pan! The satyrs come here thinking they've found Pan, and they get trapped and eaten by Polyphemus!'

'Poly-who?'

'The Cyclops!' Grover said, exasperated. 'I almost got away. I made it all the way to St Augustine.'

'But he followed you,' Nix said, 'and trapped you in a bridal boutique.'

'That's right,' Grover said. 'My first empathy link must've worked then –'

'Empathy link?' Nix blinked. 'Is that how you've found me every time I escape you?'

'Don't make it sound like I kidnapped you but, yes,' Grover admitted. He shook his head. 'Not now. Look, this bridal gown is the only thing keeping me alive – thank goodness he can't see very well. He thinks I smell good and is giving me two weeks to finish the bridal train, but he's getting impatient!'

'Wait a minute. This Cyclops thinks you're –'

'Yes!' Grover wailed. 'He thinks I'm a lady Cyclops and he wants to marry me!'

Nix's mouth twitched but she schooled her features. 'Where are you?'

'The Sea of Monsters, of course!' He paused. 'And look, Nix. . .um, I'm really sorry about this, but this empathy link. . .well, our emotions are connected now. If I die. . .'

'I'll die, too?'

'Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live for years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here.'

'Honeypie!' the monster bellowed. 'Dinnertime! Yummy yummy sheep meat!'

Grover whimpered. 'I have to go. Hurry!'

'Wait. You said 'it' was here. What?'

But Grover's voice was already growing fainter. 'Sweet dreams. Don't let me die!'

* * *

Hope you enjoyed that - may seem a little rushed though.

Comments please!


	12. Chapter 12

People are wondering why I didn't continue with the movie version of the series.

1) I had already written it all out before I got to watch the _Sea of Monsters_ movie but just never got around to posting it before now.

2) I only followed the movie version for _The Lightning Thief_ arc as a way to get the pearls without Nix having to go to Camp or finding about her heritage.

* * *

Annabeth's week was just terrible and it hadn't even ended yet.

Annabeth had arrive at camp to see it being attack by Colchis bulls and discovered that Thalia's tree had been poisoned – probably by Luke (though it hurt her to think of it). Chiron had been fired by Dionysus and replaced by a spirit named Tantalus: the one who stood in a lake in the Fields of Punishment under a fruit tree but couldn't eat or drink.

Tantalus had reinstated the chariot races which were discontinued some years ago because of three deaths and twenty six mutilations. During the race, Stymphalian birds had attacked and to get them away, Annabeth and Will had taken Chiron's boom box and played his most repulsive CD: _All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin_ – violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian.

Which led to the current situation with Annabeth and Will were on kitchen patrol – scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies. The way Tantalus saw it; the birds were minding their own business until they had been disturbed by bad chariot driving.

It was while washing the dishes while, at the same time, not get burned by the lava that Nix appeared out of nowhere.

'Is that. . .lava?'

Annabeth and Will stopped their plotting of what they were going to do to Tantalus to stare at Nix in shock.

'Why are you washing dishes with lava?'

'It's to get that that extra-clean sparkle and it kills ninety nine point nine per cent of germs,' Will said.

Annabeth said, 'Nix. . .why are you here? _How_ are you here?'

'Astral projection,' Nix said, like it was obvious. 'I'm here because I had a disturbing dream about Grover.'

One explanation later, Annabeth gained a thoughtful look.

'If he's really found it,' she murmured, 'and if we could retrieve it, the camp –'

'Hold on,' Will said. 'You act like this. . .whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp. What is it?'

'Wait,' Nix interrupted. 'The camp's in trouble? What's happening?'

'Thalia's tree has been poisoned,' Will explained. 'The borders are failing and monsters are attacking.'

'Can't Chiron heal it?'

Annabeth shook her head. 'He doesn't know what the poison his and the gods needed someone to blame so Chiron was excused. Our new activities director is a man named Tantalus and he likes us as much as Mr D does.'

'So what is this thing that could save the camp?' Nix asked.

'I'll give you a hint. What do you get when you skin a ram?'

'Messy?'

Annabeth sighed. 'A fleece. The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool –'

'The Golden Fleece,' Will deadpanned. 'Are you serious?'

Annabeth clicked her fingers. 'The Grey Sisters!' she exclaimed. 'And they mention Jason! Three thousand years ago, the Grey Sisters told Jason how to find the Golden Fleece!'

'The Golden Fleece can cure sickness, strengthen nature, clean up pollution –'

'And cure Thalia's tree,' Nix finished.

Annabeth nodded. 'And it would totally strengthen the borders of Camp Half-Blood. But the Fleece has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck.'

'But Grover found it,' Will said. 'He went looking for Pan and found the Fleece instead because both radiate nature magic. It makes sense, Annabeth. We can rescue him and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!'

Annabeth frowned 'We'll have to fight, Polyphemus, the worst of the Cyclops, and there's only one place his island could be: the Sea of Monsters.'

'The Bermuda Triangle,' Nix added, nodding. Her form flickered. 'Oh, shit.' Then she disappeared.

.

Nix was standing in a cavern at the edge of a familiar pit – the entrance to Tartarus. And she recognized the cold laugh that echoed from the darkness below.

_If it isn't the young hero._ The voice was like a knife blade scrapping across stone. _On her way to another great victory._

Nix wanted to tell him to leave her alone, but she couldn't move. Even if she could, how could she kill something that had already been destroyed – chopped into pieces and cast into eternal darkness?

_Don't let me stop you,_ the titan said. _Perhaps this time, when you fail, you'll wonder if it's worthwhile slaving for the gods._

His laughter filled the cavern and the scene began to change. It was a different cave now – Grover's bedroom prison in the Cyclops' lair. Grover was sitting at the loom in his soiled wedding dress, madly unravelling the threads of the unfinished bridal train.

'Honeypie!' the monster shouted from behind the boulder. Grover yelped and began weaving the threads back together.

The room shook as the boulder was pushed aside. Looming in the doorway was a Cyclops so huge he made Tyson look short. He had jagged yellow teeth and gnarled hands as big as her whole body. He wore a faded purple T-shirt that said WORLD SHEEP EXPO 2001. He must've been at least five metres tall, but the most startling thing was his enormous milky eye, scarred and webbed with cataracts. If he wasn't completely blind, he was pretty darn close.

'What are you doing?' the monster demanded.

'Nothing!' Grover said in his falsetto voice. 'Just weaving my bridal train, as you can see.'

The Cyclops stuck one hand into the room and groped around until he found the loom. He pawed the cloth. 'It hasn't got any longer!'

'Oh, um, yes it has, dearest. See?' I've added at least three centimetres.'

'Too many delays!' the monster bellowed. Then he sniffed the air. 'You smell good! Like goat!'

'Oh.' Grover forced a weak giggle. 'Do you like it? It's Eau de Chevre. I wore it just for you.'

'Mmmm!' the Cyclops bared his pointed teeth. 'Good enough to eat!'

'Oh, you're such a flirt!'

'No more delays!'

'But dear, I'm not done!'

'Tomorrow!'

'No, no. Ten more days.'

'Five!'

'Oh, well, seven then. If you insist.'

'Seven! That is less than five, right?'

'Certainly. Oh yes.'

The monster grumbled, still not happy with his deal, but he left Grover to his weaving and rolled the boulder back into place. Grover closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, trying to calm his nerves.

'Hurry, Nix,' he muttered. 'Please, please, please!'


	13. Chapter 13

A small sphere rushed through the forest, weaving through the trees and cutting past the leaves. There were many balls next to it, going in the same direction, some jerking away and going into another direction. Finally, the small spheres hit the targets painted on some trees, some hitting dead on and others slightly off, and other spheres hit rocks, ships that were docked on the shore of Circe's island or columns located in C.C's Spa and Resort, though those took longer since they had to make sure that they were seen.

Nix opened her eyes and relaxed, breathing hard. She drank some water with her pills and tried to calm her breathing as she looked up at the sky.

[How'd I do?]

[You've got most of them in the centre – some slightly off – but that's just the targets that didn't move] Hedwig reported. [You only got seven out of– what the hell is that?]

Before Nix could ask what was wrong, Tyson yelled out, 'Big sister! Someone coming!'

Nix stood up on the lookout, placing a pair of binoculars on her eyes, and saw what Hedwig and Tyson saw: Annabeth and Will running from what looked like. . .pirates?

Nix jumped out of the lookout. Dangerous for anyone else but Nis used her power to slow her descent until she was just hovering above the floor. She ran to the edge and whistled, drawing Will's attention and he dragged Annabeth over to the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ as Nix threw a rope ladder down before running to the mast and tapping on it.

The air filled with whistling sounds of ropes being snapped taut, canvases unfurling and wooden pulley's creaking as Will and Annabeth collapsed onto the deck.

'Argggh!' a pirate yelled somewhere behind them. 'Those scallywags are a-boarding my vessel! Get 'em, lads!'

Nix willed the rudder to turn and the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ lurched away from the dock and sailed into the Sea of Monsters as the pirates arrived at the water's edge.

'Who was that?' Nix asked.

'Edward Teach,' Annabeth panted. 'Son of Ares.'

'Otherwise known as Blackbeard,' Will added from where he was staring at Tyson. 'What are you doing here, Nix?'

'To practice my magic,' Nix said.

'Huh?' was Annabeth's response even as she tried to get far away from as possible from Tyson who was trying to touch her hair. 'And why do you have a Cyclops on board?'

'Circe's got a lot of knowledge in her library,' Nix merely said. 'And I found Tyson on the streets. He seems to have taken a liking to you Annabeth so be nice.'

'Why would you come here?' Will said, incredulously. 'I mean. . .that woman is crazy.'

'I know,' Nix agreed. 'Circe offered to become my teacher, using her charm speak, but I rejected so she convinced me to stay and tutor me while trying to convince me to stay. During my stay, she slipped a potion into my food to lessen my resistance to her power but I kept snapping out of it and then I left. But as the monsters get stronger, I needed to get stronger too.'

'Nix. . .do you even know where we're supposed to be going?' Annabeth asked, looking into the horizon.

'We're supposed to go to. . .30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west,' Will recited.

'No. But now I do,' Nix said. 'Now what has been happening since the last time I saw you?'

Annabeth and Will glanced at each other. 'Well. . .the quest was actually given to Clarisse,' Will said. 'Don't know where she is. And Luke has a ship full of monsters.'

'It's called the _Princess Andromeda_ and there's a coffin aboard with Kronos' essence,' Annabeth said. 'With every half-blood that joins him, another piece of him comes.'

'We knew that Luke wasn't just going to give up on destroying Olympus,' Nix said. 'And it's not surprising that even half-bloods are joining him: Luke couldn't be the only one who hated the gods. You know how full the Hermes cabin is.'

Annabeth nodded.

'Along the way, we met up with Clarisse and entered through Charybdis and Scylla but the ship exploded. We don't know if she survived or not.'

Sometime around midnight, they passed a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.

'One of the forges of Hephaestus,' Annabeth said. 'Where he makes his metal monsters.'

'Like the bronze bulls?' Will asked.

She nodded. 'Go around. Far around.'

They steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind them.

Will looked at Annabeth. 'Why do you hate Tyson? I mean, he seems nice enough.'

'It's nothing against Tyson – just Cyclopes in general,' she said finally, sighing. 'The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. The worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops' lair in Brooklyn.'

'They've got Cyclops in Brooklyn?' Will asked.

'You wouldn't believe how many, but that's not the point. This Cyclops, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda, Will. He lured us, one at a time: Thalia thought she was running to save Luke, Luke thought he was running to save me. And. . .I was alone in the dark. I was seven years old – I couldn't even find the exit.'

Annabeth brushed her hair out of her face. 'I remember finding the main room and there were Thalia, Luke and Grover, tied up and gagged, hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. The Cyclops was starting a fire in the middle of the floor. He turned to me and smiled and somehow he knew my dad's voice. He said, 'Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever.''

'What did you do?'

'I stabbed him in the foot.'

Nix couldn't help it: she laughed. 'You were seven years old and you stabbed a grown Cyclops in the foot?'

'Oh, he would've killed me. But I surprised him. It gave me just enough time to run to Thalia and cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there.'

'Still pretty brave, Annabeth,' Will chuckled.

Annabeth shook her head. 'We barely got out alive. I still have nightmares. It was his fault we took so long getting to camp – all the monsters who'd been chasing us had time to catch up. That's really why Thalia died. If it hadn't been for that Cyclops, she'd still be alive today.'

They sat in silence, watching the Heracles constellation in the night sky.


	14. Chapter 14

Nix found herself in a stateroom aboard a ship. The curtains were open. It was night time outside. The air swirled with shadows. Voices whispered – spirits of the dead.

_Beware,_ they whispered. _Traps. Trickery._

A golden sarcophagus glowed faintly – the only source of light in the room.

The cold laugh seemed to come from miles below the ship. _You don't have the courage, young one. You can't stop me._

Nix knew what she had to do. She had to open that coffin and destroy whatever was in that box.

_Beware!_ Ghost whirled around her like a tornado. Nix tried to step forward, but her feet wouldn't move. A girl spoke right next to her, 'Well?'

Nix turned to face the girl. She wore punk-style clothes with silver chains on her wrists and had spiky black hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy blue eyes and a spray of freckles across her nose. She looked really familiar.

'Well?' she asked. 'Are we going to stop him or not?'

Nix didn't say anything.

The girl rolled her eyes. 'Fine. Leave it to me and Aegis.'

She tapped her wrist and the silver chains transformed – flattening and expanding into a huge shield. It was silver and bronze, with the monstrous face of Medusa protruding from the centre. It looked like a death mask, as if the gorgon's real head had been pressed into the metal. It sent a shiver down Nix's back. In a real fight, any bearer of that shield would be almost impossible to beat – any sane enemy would turn and run.

The girl drew her sword and advanced on the sarcophagus. The shadowy ghost parted for her, scattering before the terrible aura of her shield. She marched straight up to the sarcophagus and pushed aside the golden lid. For a moment she stood there, gazing down at whatever was in the box.

The coffin began to glow.

'No.' the girl's voice trembled. 'It can't be.'

From the depths of the ocean, Kronos laughed so loudly the whole ship trembled.

'No!' the girl screamed as the sarcophagus engulfed her in a blast of golden light.

The setting changed.

.

Grover was sitting at his loom, desperately unravelling his wedding train, when the boulder door roll aside and the Cyclops bellowed, 'Aha!'

Grover yelped. 'Dear! I didn't – you were so quiet!'

'Unravelling,' Polyphemus roared. 'So that's the problem!'

Polyphemus half-carried, half-dragged Grover through the tunnels of the cave. As he struggled, his veil kept tilting on his head, threatening to come off. The Cyclops pulled him into a warehouse-size cavern decorated with sheep junk and other bones that didn't look exactly like sheep – the bones of satyrs who'd come to the island looking for Pan.

Polyphemus set Grover down long enough to move another huge boulder and Grover whimpered with longing. Fresh air!

The island was beautiful. It was shaped kind of like a saddle cut in half by an axe. There were lush green hills on both sides and a wide valley in the middle, split by a deep chasm that was spanned by a rope bridge. Beautiful streams rolled to the edge of the canyon and dropped off in rainbow-coloured waterfalls. Parrots fluttered in the trees, pink and purple flowers bloomed on the bushes and a hundred sheep grazed in the meadows, their wool glinting strangely like copper and silver coins.

And at the centre of the island, right next to the rope bridge, was an enormous twisted oak tree with something glittering in its lowest bough.

The Golden Fleece.

Polyphemus boasted about the Golden Fleece when he saw Grover looking at it: stealing it from heroes and getting free food. He gave Grover a mass of wool and told him to put it on the spinning wheel because it was magic and could not be unravelled.

'Isn't that. . .thoughtful of you!'

'Hehe.'

'But-but, dear,' Grover gulped, 'what if someone were to rescue – I mean attack this island? What would keep them from marching right up here to your cave?'

'Wifey scared! So cute! Not to worry. Polyphemus has state-of-the-art security system. Have to get through my pets.'

'Pets?'

Grover looked across the island, but there was nothing to see except sheep grazing peacefully in the meadows.

'And then,' Polyphemus growled, 'they would have to get through me!'

He pounded his fist against the nearest rock, which cracked and split in half. 'Now, come!' he shouted. 'Back to the cave.'

Grover was about ready to cry – so close to freedom, but so hopelessly far. Tears welled in his eyes as the boulder door rolled shut, sealing him once again in the stinky torch-lit dankness of the Cyclops' cave.

.

Nix stared blankly at Annabeth.

'I'm sorry,' she deadpanned. 'Could you repeat that?'

'I want to hear the Sirens sing,' Annabeth repeated.

Nix and Will shared a look. Nix looked back at Annabeth with a look that said Nix was freaked-out. 'Have you gone mad?' she exclaimed. 'Why?'

'They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what so enchanting. If you survive. . .you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?'

'What should we do?' Will whispered.

'She's definitely gone crazy,' Nix whispered back, glancing over her shoulder at the twitching girl.

'If it was anyone else, I would agree with you,' Will said. 'But this is a girl who struggles through Ancient Greek architecture books and enjoys documentaries on the History channel – this _is_ on her level of sanity.'

Annabeth twitched since she could hear exactly what they were saying about her: they weren't actually being discreet.

As soon as the rocky coastline of the island came into view, Nikki ordered one of the ropes to wrap around Annabeth's waist, tying her to the foremast, and disarmed her.

'Don't untie me,' Annabeth said, 'no matter what happens or how much I plead. I'll want to go straight over the edge and drown myself.'

'Are you trying to tempt me?' Will asked.

'Ha-ha.'

As they approached the island, Nix willed the Queen Anne's Revenge to skirt around the jagged rocks that had loomed out of the fog or else they would have shredded the hull like blender blades.

Nix spotted them – a flock of vultures the size of people with dirty plumage, grey talons and wrinkled pink necks. There were human heads on top of those necks, but they kept on changing, morphing into the people she wanted to see the most – Grover, Daniel, Tyson. They invited her forward, but no matter what shape they took, their mouths were greasy and caked with remnants of old meals.

Will had to look away from Annabeth when she began to struggled and strained against the rope, screaming at them to let her go. Will couldn't hear anything because of the balls of wax in his ears but he could read her lips, so he turned away.

He found himself staring at Nix as she stared impassively at Annabeth, not being affected by the tears that ran down Annabeth's face. Nix's eyes were glazed and Will wondered if she was seeing Annabeth at all or something else.

.

Three people sat on a picnic blanket in Central Park and a feast was spread out before them. Her dad was there – an athletic-looking, sandy-haired guy in his forties – holding hands with her mother, who wore casual clothing – blue jeans, denim shirt and hiking boots. Next to them. . .was Luke.

They were talking and laughing, and when they saw her, their faces lit up. Luke grinned and gestured for her to sit next to him – as if he'd never betrayed her, as if they were still friends.

Behind the trees of central park, a city skyline rose – it was Manhattan, but not Manhattan. It was totally rebuilt from dazzling white marble, bigger and grander than ever – with golden windows and rooftop gardens. Better than New York, better than Mount Olympus. – she had designed it.

She was the architect for a whole new world. She had reunited her parents. She done everything she'd ever wanted.

_Yo, Ho haul together, hoist the colours high_

_Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die_

The image began to fade, her mother, father and Luke called out to her to come back but she just kept moving farther away from them.

_The King and his men stole the queen from her bed_

_And bound her in her bones_

She continued to struggle. She wanted her knife but they had taken it way from her – just like they were taking her away from her family and her city. She _wanted_ **_out!_**

_The seas be ours and by the powers_

_Where we will...we'll roam_

Annabeth sobbed. She didn't want to leave.

_Yo, Ho haul together, hoist the colours high_

_Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never say we die_

(Hoist the Colours – Pirates of the Caribbean)


	15. Chapter 15

Nix sailed the _Queen Anne's Revenge _until the Siren's island was completely out of sight. Annabeth was untied and she sobbed into Will's shoulder who held her close as she cried. The fog burned away to a blue sky, as if the island of Sirens had never existed.

'You okay?' Will asked hesitantly.

'I didn't realize,' Annabeth murmured.

'What?'

Her eyes were the same colour as the mist over the Sirens' island. 'How powerful the temptation would be.'

'What did it show you?' Nix asked.

Annabeth hugged herself. 'My fatal flaw. That's what the Sirens showed me. My fatal flaw is hubris.'

'Deadly pride?'

Annabeth nodded. 'Thinking you can do things better than anyone else. . .even the gods.'

'You feel that way?' Will asked.

Annabeth looked down. 'Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. No more homeless. No more summer homework.'

Nix and Will shared a glance and said in unison, 'I'm listening.'

'I mean, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did – that's why the fire is still burning. That's why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: 'If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.' Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?'

'What Luke told you back on the Princess Andromeda, about starting the world from scratch. . .that really got to you, huh?' Will said.

Annabeth nodded. 'Every hero has a fatal flaw: if you don't find it and learn to control it. . .well, they don't call it 'fatal' for nothing.'

'So was it worth it?' Nix asked Annabeth. 'Do you feel. . .wiser?'

Annabeth gazed into the distance. 'I'm not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don't stop Luke. . .'

If Luke's way of thinking could even tempt Annabeth, there was no telling how many other half-bloods might join him. Nix thought about the dream of the girl and the golden sarcophagus. Kronos was planning something. What had the girl seen when she opened that coffin lid?

Suddenly, Annabeth's eyes widened. 'Will. . .Nix. . .'

Up ahead was another blotch of land – a saddle-shaped island with forested hills, white beaches and green meadows – just like her dream. Nix wasn't sure how, but her senses told her they had reached the right destination: thirty degrees, thirty-one minutes north, seventy-five degrees, twelve minutes west.

They had reached the home of the Cyclops.

.

When you think 'monster island', you think craggy rocks and bones scattered on the beach like the island of Sirens.

This monster island looked more like it belonged on a Caribbean postcard. Sure, it had the rope bridge across a chasm, which was pretty much the same as putting up a billboard that said: SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE but it had green fields, tropical fruit trees and white beaches.

Nix couldn't see the Fleece yet, but she could feel its power – she could easily believe that it could heal anything. In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge – the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was the massive oak tree Nikki had seen in her dreams. Something gold glittered in its branches.

'This is too easy,' Will said. 'We could just hike up there and take it.'

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. 'There's supposed to be a guardian. A dragon or. . .'

That's when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at one and rushed the animal at once and rushed the animal. It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves.

Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air.

A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.

Silence.

'They're like piranhas,' Nix said.

'Piranhas with wool. How will we –'

'Look!' Annabeth gasped. She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground: a lifeboat.

.

Annabeth wanted them to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but in the end, Nix and Will convinced her that something could go wrong – the sheep would smell her or another guardian would appear.

Their first job was the find Grover and whoever had come ashore in the lifeboat. Nix moored the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ on the backside of the island, where the ship was less likely to be seen because the cliffs rose straight up a good sixty metres feet which looked climbable - barely.

Nix turned to Tyson. 'Stay here and watch the ship.' Tyson nodded seriously as he could. Nix placed a hand on both of Annabeth's and Will's shoulder and gripped it, surprising them and said, 'Hold your breath.'

Before they could ask what was happening, Nix pushed forward and they were suddenly on the ground, not on the deck of the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ but at the top of the cliffs with a queasy feeling in their stomachs.

'Uhh.'

'Ouch.'

'The feeling'll pass,' Nix grunted, her face still to the ground.

'Garrr!' bellowed another voice.

Will whipped his head up, ignoring the feeling in his stomach, but he couldn't see who had spoken. Annabeth clamped a hand over his mouth and pointed to the opposite side of the cliff where the voice was coming from – right below them.

'You're a feisty one!' the deep voice bellowed.

'Challenge me!' Clarisse's voice; no doubt about it. 'Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!'

The monster roared with laughter.

They crept closer to the edge. They were right above the entrance of the Cyclops' cave and below them stood Polyphemus, dressed in his wedding outfit – a crude kilt and shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedoes, as if he'd skinned an entire wedding party, and Grover, still in his wedding dress. Clarisse was tied up, hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water – very cliché if you asked Nix.

'Hmm,' Polyphemus pondered. 'Eat loudmouth girl now or wait for wedding feast? What does my bride think?'

He turned to Grover, who backed up and almost tripped over his completed bridal train. 'Oh, um, I'm not hungry right now, dear. Perhaps –'

'Did you say bride?' Clarisse demanded. 'Who – Grover?'

Annabeth muttered, 'Shut up. She has to shut up.'

Polyphemus glowered. 'What 'Grover'?'

'The satyr!' Clarisse yelled.

'Oh!' Grover yelped. 'The poor thing's brain is boiling from that hot water. Pull her down, dear!'

Polyphemus' eyelid narrowed over his baleful milky eye, as if he were trying to see Clarisse more clearly.

'What satyr?' asked Polyphemus. 'Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?'

'No, you big idiot!' bellowed Clarisse. 'That satyr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!'

Nix wanted to wring Clarisse's neck, but it was too late. Polyphemus turned and ripped off Grover's wedding veil – revealing his curly hair, his scruffy adolescent beard, his tiny horns.

Poluphemus breathed heavily, trying to contain his anger. 'I don't see very well,' he growled, 'not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in eye. But YOU'RE – NO – LADY – CYCLOPS!'

The Cyclops grabbed Grover's dress and tore it away. Underneath, the old Grover reappeared in his jeans and T-shirt. He yelped and ducked as the monster swiped over his head. Grover pleaded with him to stop and stuttered out a made-up recipe to eat him with. Polyphemus pondered this.

He looked back at Clarisse, still hanging over the pot of boiling water. 'You a satyr, too?'

'No, you overgrown pile of dung!' she yelled. 'I'm a girl! The daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!'

'Rip my arms off,' Polyphemus repeated.

'And stuff them down your throat!'

'You got spunk.'

'Let me down!'

Polyphemus snatched up Grover as if he were a wayward puppy. 'Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for the main course!'

'But. . .you're still getting married?' Grover sounded hurt. 'Who's the bride?'

Polyphemus looked towards the boiling pot.

Clarisse made a strangled sound. 'Oh, no! You can't be serious. I'm not –'

Polyphemus plucked her off the rope like she was a rip apple, and tossed her and Grover deep into the cave. 'Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!'

Polyphemus strolled off down the mountain, a mixed flock of goats and sheep – smaller than the man-eaters - in his baby-blue groom's outfit, leaving them alone with a pot of boiling water and a six-ton boulder.

'I really want to laugh right now,' Nix commented and Will nodded in agreement.

Annabeth whacked them over the head.

.

'Can you move the boulder?' Will asked.

Nix shook her head. 'Too big, too heavy.'

'Can you do that. . .astral thing?' Annabeth asked.

'And do what?' Nix replied. 'I don't think there's a way to open it from the inside so they can't actually do anything.'

'So what do we do?' Will asked. 'Kill Polyphemus?'

'Then who will move the boulder?' Nix asked back.

The trio sat on the ridge in despair and watched the distant baby-blue shape of the Cyclops as he moved among his flocks. He had wisely divided his regular animals from his man-eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island. The only way across was the rope bridge, and the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.

Polyphemus visited his carnivorous flock on the far side. Unfortunately, they didn't eat him – they didn't seem bothered by him at all as he fed them chunks of mystery meat from a great wicker basket.

'Trickery,' Annabeth decided. 'We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery.'

'Okay,' Will said. 'What trick?'

'I haven't figured that part out yet.'

'Great.'

'Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside.'

'At sunset,' Nix said. 'Which is when he'll marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner – I'm not sure which is grosser.'

'I could get inside,' Annabeth said, 'invisibly.'

'What about us?' Will asked.

Annabeth looked at the sheep and gave Will and Nix a sly look that made them wary. 'How much do you like sheep?'


	16. Chapter 16

Annabeth shouted, 'Hello, ugly!'

Polyphemus stiffened. 'Who said that?'

'Nobody!' Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction that she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage.

'Nobody!' Polyphemus yelled back. 'I remember you!'

'You're too stupid to remember anybody,' Annabeth taunted. 'Much less Nobody.'

Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) and threw it towards the sound of Annabeth's voice and it smashed into a thousand fragments.

'You haven't learned to throw any better, either!' Annabeth shouted.

Polyphemus howled. 'Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!'

'You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf,' she taunted. 'Come find me!'

Polyphemus barrelled down the hill towards her voice.

The 'Nobody' thing wouldn't have made sense to anybody, but it had been the name that Odysseus had used to trick Polyphemus centuries ago, right before he poked the Cyclops' eye out with a large hot stick. Polyphemus apparently still had a grudge against the name and in his frenzy to find his old enemy, he forgot about resealing the cave entrance – he didn't even stop to consider that Annabeth's voice was female, whereas the first Nobody had been male.

While Annabeth distracted Polyphemus, Hedwig watching over her, Will and Nix slipped into the cave hugging the underbelly of Polyphemus' sheep until they entered the main room where they dropped off their sheep taxi. Even though Nix had dreamed of this place, it was hard for her to navigate through the maze. Finally, they found the spinning room where Grover huddled in the corner, trying to cut Clarisse's bonds with a pair of safety scissors.

'It's no good,' Clarisse said. 'The rope is like iron!'

'Just a few more minutes!'

'Grover,' she cried, exasperated. 'You've been working at it for hours!'

Then they spotted Nix and Will.

'_Will_?' Clarisse said. 'You're supposed to be blown up!'

'Nice to see you, too,' Will replied.

'Niiiiix!' Grover bleated and tackled her with a goat hug. 'You heard me! You came!'

Nix looked at him like he was stupid.

'Where's Annabeth?'

'Outside,' Will said. 'But there's no time to talk.'

'Clarisse, hold still,' Nix said. She pulled out a hair stick and her hair fell from its bun. It was golden with two 10cm legs and a golden butterfly at the top with a dangling beads and crystal. It transformed in Nix's hands into a shimmering bronze short sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a hilt bent upward riveted with gold studs.

'Whoa,' Will said, awed as Nix sliced off Clarisse's ropes and she muttered a thanks. 'Where'd you get it?'

'Found it while at Circe's spa and resort,' Nix said. 'It's called Anaklusmos – Riptide.'

[Az!] Hedwig flew in and an explosion echoed through the cave. [Annabeth's in trouble!]

To prove her point, Annabeth cried out in fear.

.

'I got Nobody!' Polyphemus gloated.

They crept to the cave entrance and saw the Cyclops grinning wickedly, holding empty air. The monster shook his fist, and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

'Hah!' the Cyclops said. 'Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be roasted with mango chutney!'

Annabeth struggled but she looked dazed. There was a nasty cut on her forehead and her eyes for glassy.

Nix shouted, 'Oy, dunderhead!'

The giant whirled around. 'Another one? Who are you?'

'Put my friend down. I'm the one who insulted you.'

'You are Nobody?'

'That's right, you stupid oaf! I'm Nobody and proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here – I want to stab your eye out again!'

'RAAAR!' he bellowed.

Good news: he dropped Annabeth. Bad news: he dropped her head first onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll. More bad news: Polyphemus was barrelling towards her, five hundred smelly kilometres of Cyclops the she would have to fight.

Hedwig attack his face while Will shot arrow after arrow at the Cyclops with good aim but the monster would just pluck them out. Grover attack from the right, throwing a sheep bone that bounced harmlessly off the monster's forehead. Clarisse ran in from the left, placing her spear ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it. Nix moved in and stabbed Riptide into his thigh, but he didn't disintegrate – the monster was much too big and powerful.

Will picked up Annabeth's invisibility cap and Grover went over to Annabeth while Clarisse and Nix distracted Polyphemus – Clarisse would charge while Nix would follow up with a stab or a telekinesis attack.

But they couldn't keep this up forever.

From the corner of her eye, Nix saw Grover and Will carrying Annabeth across the rope bridge.

'Fall back!' she told Clarisse.

They ran for the bridge, Polyphemus right behind them. All they'd done was slow him down and make him mad.

Grover's eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops. Will reacted faster, grabbing Annabeth's knife and began sawing at the ropes, the first one going _snap!_

Polyphemus bounded after them, making the bridge sway. The ropes were now half cut. Clarisse and Nix dived for solid ground, and Nix made a wild slash with her sword and cut the remaining ropes. The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled. . .with delight, because he was standing right next to them.

'Failed!' he yelled gleefully. 'Nobody failed!'

Nix was extremely annoyed: nobody swat down her friends like that. She was _so_ going to beat down this big stupid monster in a baby blue tuxedo kilt.

Nix stabbed the Cyclops in the foot and slashed at his leg. He stumbled but regained his balance just as a large rock was thrown at him courtesy of Nix. Nix jumped and hit him in the nose with the hilt of her sword and shot off his face, using it like a springboard. Nix panted – she wasn't used to controlling heavy things so many times in a row – but she was able to pull Polyphemus' leg, like he slipped on something, and he tumbled into the chasm.

.

Nix knelt beside Annabeth and saw that the gash on her forehead was worse than she first realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood and her skin was pale and clammy.

'Hedwig!' Nix called. 'Grab the Golden Fleece!'

[On it Az!]

Hedwig flew to the lowest bough of the enormous twisted oak tree to grab the Fleece but the large carnivorous sheep tried to get to her and she had to fly off without even touching it. Hedwig hovered above the tree, staring off into one direction.

[Az!] Hedwig hooted. [Over there!]

Nix looked over to where Hedwig was looking and huffed out in relief and irritation when she saw Tyson bounding up the path that led to the beach.

'Big sister!' Tyson cried.

'Tyson!' Nix called. 'Get the Fleece!'

'Which one?' Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

'In the tree!' she said. 'The gold one!'

'Oh. Pretty. Yes.'

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If anyone else had tried to approach the Fleece, they would've been eaten alive, but Tyson must have smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock didn't bother him at all.

'Throw it!'

The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag-frisbee. Nix caught it with a grunt – it was heavier than she expected, about thirty kilograms of precious gold wool. She was glad that Hedwig didn't attempt to carry it because Nix wasn't sure if Hedwig could handle the weight (she would never say that out loud).

Nix spread it over Annabeth, covering everything but her face and after a few minutes, the colour began to seep back into the skin. Her eyelids fluttered open and the cut on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, 'You're not. . .married?'

Grover grinned. 'No. My friends talked me out of it.'

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. They herded to him, but it was obvious that they were hungry and were starting to realize that Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with fresh meat nearby.

'Tyson,' Nix called, 'lead the flock far away.'

'The sheep want food.'

'I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path and give us time to get to the beach, then join us there.'

Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. 'Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!'

He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit.

The group walked down to the beach, Clarisse carrying Annabeth since her ribs were still broken. As soon as they got to the edge of the water, Nix willed the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ to raise anchor and it rounded to tip of the island.

'Incoming!' Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join them, the sheep about fifty metres behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friends ran away without feeding them.

'We have to swim for the ship,' Will told them.

'With Annabeth like this?' Clarisse protested.

'Would you rather face the carnivorous sheep?' Nix rhetorically asked. 'Once we get to the ship, we're home free.'

They waded past the entrance to the ravine and heard a tremendous roar. Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashed towards them, a boulder in each hand.


	17. Chapter 17

'You'd think he'd run out of rocks,' Nix muttered.

'Swim for it!' Grover cried.

Hedwig flew overhead as he and Clarisse plunged into the surf while Annabeth clung to Clarisse's neck, paddling with one hand, the Golden Fleece weighing her down.

But the monster's attention wasn't on the Fleece.

'You, young Cyclops!' Polyphemus roared. 'Traitor to your kind!'

Tyson froze.

'Don't listen to him!' Will pleaded. 'Go!'

Tyson turned and faced the older Cyclops. 'I am not a traitor.'

'You serve mortals!' Polyphemus shouted. 'Thieving humans!'

Polyphemus threw his first boulder, but Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

'Not a traitor,' Tyson said. 'And you are not my kind.'

Nix didn't plunge into the water, yelling at Will and Tyson to hurry up when Polyphemus stepped on his injured foot and fell onto his face. The other three were almost to the ship with the Fleece and if they could just distract the monster a little longer. . .

Will summoned his bow and shot arrows at Polyphemus' head, trying to hit him in the eye but Polyphemus kept swatting them away and pulling them out like toothpicks. Tyson threw rocks at the monster and swatted any rocks that Polyphemus threw and turned them to rubble.

Nix groaned before willing the sea to rise. She rode the wave to the Cyclops, kicked him in the eye and leaped over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach.

'Destroy you!' Polyphemus spluttered. 'Fleece stealer!'

'You stole the Fleece!' Will yelled. 'You've been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!'

'So? Satyrs good eating!'

'The Fleece should be used to heal!' Nix cried, dodging the Cyclops' hand. 'It belongs to the children of the gods!'

'I am a child of the gods!' Polyphemus swiped at Nix, but she just sidestepped. 'Father Poseidon, curse this thief!' He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and Nix realized that he was targeting them by the sound of their voices.

'The gods don't play favourites!' Will yelled and Polyphemus ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where Will had been standing a moment before.

Grover was helping Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically, telling them to come on. Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.

'Young one!' the older Cyclops called. 'Where are you? Help me!'

Tyson stopped.

'You weren't raised right!' Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club. 'Poor orphaned brother! Help me!'

No one moved. No sound but the ocean. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. 'Don't fight, Cyclops brother. Put down the –'

Polyphemus spun towards the voice.

'Tyson!' Will shouted.

Just as the tree was about to hit Tyson, it stopped and Polyphemus seemed to struggle against an invisible force. So focused on the olive tree, he didn't see the boulder coming to him until it rammed into his face.

'Don't touch Tyson,' Nix said through gritted teeth. For good measure, she rammed the boulder into the Cyclops' stomach. 'Move!' she screamed.

They plunged into waves as Polyphemus roared and threw his tree club at the sea without even aiming. It splashed off to the right.

Nix summoned a current to carry them. They might have made it if Clarisse hadn't done something stupid and shouted from the deck: 'In your face, Cyclops!'

_Shut up_, Nix wanted to yell.

Polyphemus picked up the boulder on his stomach and threw it towards the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Will, Tyson and Nix.

'Yeah, yeah!' Clarisse taunted. 'You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!'

'Clarisse!' Will yelled, unable to take it anymore. Hedwig seemed to agree with him as she swooped into attack Clarisse. 'Shut your trap!'

But it was too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and Nikki watched helplessly as it sailed over her head and crashed into the hull of the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. It creaked, groaned and listed forward like it was going down a playground slide.

They plunged underwater.

You wouldn't believe how fast a ship can sink. Not many people realize that when a ship goes down, it acts like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Her friends were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship's wreckage.

_We need help,_ Nix thought. _Poseidon, if there is any way you could help us, sending it to us would be very much appreciated right about now._

It took a while but, suddenly, shapes shimmered in the darkness below – three horses with fish tails, galloping upwards faster than dolphins. They whisked into the wreckage, and a moment later burst upward in a cloud of bubbles –Grover, Annabeth and Clarisse each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus.

The largest which had Clarisse raced over to Tyson and allowed him to grab onto his mane while the one with Grover did the same for Will and Annabeth for Nix. They broke the surface of the water and raced away from Polyphemus' island. Behind them, Nikki could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph, 'I did it! I finally sank Nobody!'

They skimmed across the sea as the island shrank to a dot and then disappeared.

'Did it,' Annabeth mutter in exhaustion. 'We. . .' She slumped against the neck of the hippocampus and instantly fell asleep.

'Damn you, Clarisse,' Nix grunted as she made sure Annabeth didn't fall off and made sure the Fleece was still covering her. 'I liked that ship.'

.

'This is as far as the hippocampi will take us,' Nikki said. 'Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own.'

None of them were very psyched about that, but they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. Rainbow had been the one to save Tyson from the CSS _Birmingham_ having followed him since Long Island Sound for Tyson to play with him. Nix thanked Rainbow for that.

They'd stopped at a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red-and-blue neon, a harbour filled with sailboats and cruise ships: Miami. If anybody noticed them – six kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster – they didn't let on.

Back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred, Grover had put on his cap and sneakers and the Golden Fleece was a red and gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket. Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date. She cursed. 'June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!'

'That's impossible!' Clarisse said.

'Time travels differently in monstrous places,' Nix said.

'Thalia's tree must be almost dead,' Grover wailed. 'We have to get the Fleece back tonight.'

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. 'How are we supposed to do that?' Her voice trembled. 'We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said.'

'Oracle?' Nix asked.

'The Oracle of Delphi,' Will said. He turned to Clarisse. 'What did the Oracle tell you exactly?'

Clarisse looked up and took a deep breath. She recited a prophecy:

_'You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,_

_You shall find what you seek and make it your own,_

_But despair for your life entombed within stone,_

_And fail without friends, to fly home alone.'_

'Ouch,' Grover mumbled.

'Does anybody have any cash?' Nix asked.

They all shook their head miserably but Tyson surprised them by pulling out an airtight bag full of cash: fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars. Nix ran to the kerb and grabbed a taxi.

'Clarisse,' she yelled. 'You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece.'

Nix wasn't sure who was more stunned as she grabbed the Fleece letter jacket, tucked the cash into its pockets and put it in Clarisse's arms.

Clarisse said, 'You'd let me –'

'It's your quest,' Nix said. 'We came to rescue Grover and there's only enough money for one flight. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely. Hedwig will follow you.'

Clarisse was suspicious at first but she jumped into the cab. 'You can count on me. I won't fail.'

'Not failing would be good,' Will said.

'Nix,' Annabeth said, 'that was so –'

'Generous?' Grover offered.

'Insane,' Annabeth corrected. 'You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back tonight?'

Nix shrugged. 'Let's find another way home.' She turned around and found a sword's point at her throat.

'Hey, Nix,' said Luke. 'Welcome back to the States.'

Bear-man, twins that weren't quite human, thugs appeared on either side of them. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Will and Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.

Nix hissed and Tyson quietened down, yet he still growled.

'What do you want, Luke?' Nix asked.

He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He gestured towards the end of the dock where there was a cruise ship – the biggest boat on port. Nix assumed that this was the _Princess Andromeda_.

'Why, Nix,' Luke said. 'I want to extend my hospitality, of course.'


	18. Chapter 18

'And so, the Fleece,' Luke mused. 'Where is it?'

He looked them over, prodding Will's shirt and poking Grover's jeans with the tip of his sword.

'Hey!' Grover yelled. 'That's real goat fur under there!'

'Sorry, old friends.' Luke smiled. 'Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest.'

'Blaa-ha-ha!' Grover protested. 'Some old friend!'

'Maybe you didn't hear me.' Luke's voice was dangerously calm. 'Where – is – the – Fleece?'

'Not here,' Will said looking smug. 'We sent it ahead of us. You messed up.'

Luke's eyes narrowed. 'You're lying. You couldn't have. . .' His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. 'Clarisse?'

They nodded.

'You trusted. . .you gave. . .Agrius!'

The bear-man flinched. 'Y-yes?'

'Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to Miami Airport, fast!'

* * *

A/N: Suck at fight scenes - sue me ;)

'But, boss –'

'Do it!' Luke screamed. 'Or I'll feed you to the drakon!'

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy – they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.

'You've been toying with us all along,' Will said. 'You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it.'

Luke scowled. 'Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!'

He dug out his last gold drachma out of his pocket and threw it at Luke. As Will expected, he dodged easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-coloured water.

_O goddess, accept my offering._

'You tricked all of us!' Will yelled. 'Even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!'

Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but everyone's attention had to be away. As Will tried to think of a way to distract them, Nix suddenly stood up and pulled Riptide out.

Luke just sneered. 'This is no time of heroics, Nix. Sit down, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later.'

'Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?' Will asked

'I did, of course,' he snarled. 'I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus.'

'Chiron had nothing to do with it?'

'Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts.'

'You call that guts?' Nix said.

Luke raised his sword. 'You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece. . .once I was done with it.'

Nix narrowed her eyes.

'You were going to heal Kronos,' she said.

'Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us. You've only slowed us down a little.'

'And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up – all to help Kronos destroy the gods,' Will confirmed.

Luke gritted his teeth. 'You already know that! Why do you keep asking me?!'

'Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you.'

Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back. Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching them.

'You get all that Mr D?' Will said. 'The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault.'

Mr D sighed. 'I suppose not.'

Tantalus was excused and the campers cheered. Luke roared and slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved but the deed was done.

Luke sneered at them. 'You'll never leave this boat alive.'

One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around them, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

'One on one,' Nix challenged Luke, Riptide turning into a sword. 'What are you afraid of?'

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill them hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could say anything, Agrius burst onto the deck with a flying horse – a pure-black pegasus with wings like a giant raven.

'Sir!' Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. 'Your steed is ready!'

Luke kept his eyes on Nix. 'You can't bait me into a fight.'

'And you're avoiding one,' Nix noticed. 'Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?'

Nix had trapped him now: if he back down, he'd be seen as weak, but if he fought Nix, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

'I'll kill you quickly,' he decided, and raised his weapon. Nix felt the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together, human steel melded with celestial bronze - the sword that could harm both mortals and monsters – Backbiter.

Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield. The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gave you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gave you better defence and versatility – more moves, more options, more ways to kill.

Luke lunged first, eager to get this over with so that he could go after Clarisse, and Nix dodged and attacked whenever she could see an opening, constantly moving, side to side and around, like she was dancing.

Nix saw from the corner of her eye, Oreius lifting her friends to his open mouth. Nix grabbed the blade of Backbiter when it came down at her (ignoring the blood that dripped from the wound) while, at the same time, waving her hand (the one that held Riptide) at Oreius. Oreius dropped her friends in surprise as he flew back into a red-feathered arrow, which sprouted out of his mouth.

'Brother!' Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus' reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him on the head and fly away free over Miami Bay. For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch as the bear twins' bodies dissolved into smoke.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal and a dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

'Ponies!' Tyson cried with delight.

Nix spotted Chiron among the crowd. His relatives were nothing like him or the Hogwarts centaurs – more like party animals than teachers and star-gazers. The exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and colour that even Luke was stunned. Nix, taking the chance, pushed him into the pool.

Luke's warriors scattered. Nikki couldn't blame them – facing the hooves of a rearing stallion was scary enough, but when they were centaurs, armed with bows and paintball guns, whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

'Come get some!' yelled one of the party ponies.

Luke was crawling out of the pool now. 'Attack, you fools!' Somewhere below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed. His warriors got over their surprise and attacked - soon they'd be overwhelmed with reinforcements.

'Withdraw, brethren!' Chiron said.

'You won't get away with this, horse-man!' Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with a boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deckchair.

Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx, but by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped that guardrail, as if they weren't ten storeys above ground. The centaurs hit the tarmac with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as they raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

.

They found themselves at the edge of a lake in a trailer park pretty fast. Centaurs chatted and gossiped, some even charged at each other full-force and knocked their heads.

Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to Nikki, who was sleeping. 'I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together – they don't have the brain cells to spare.'

Annabeth asked him how Chiron had found them and he tried to make it sound smart by saying he figured they would wash up near Miami when in truth he had just eavesdropped on the Iris-message, with the help of the goddess herself, and traced the signal.

'What do we do about the _Princess Andromeda_?' Will asked.

'I'm not sure,' Chiron said. 'We don't have the strength of numbers to take that ship and Luke was not organized enough to pursue us.'

'But we got the Fleece!' Annabeth said. 'Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now.'

Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. 'You are all true heroes. You must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you.'

'You're coming, too?' Will asked hopefully.

'Oh yes, Will. I'll be relieved to get home. I must have words with Mr D. There's the rest of the summer to plan: so much training to do. and I want to see. . .I'm curious about the Fleece.'

They weren't sure what Chiron meant, but it made Nix think about what Luke had said: _I was going to let you take the Fleece. . .once I was done with it._

Luke was planning something. Or rather, it was Kronos' plan – he wasn't called the Crooked One for nothing: he'd get people to do what he wanted without them ever realizing his true intentions.

While Nix watched the centaurs teach Tyson how to shoot a paintball gun over the fire, she realized that Chiron had Riptide in his hands.

'Anaklusmos,' Chiron said. 'A sword with a long and tragic history. How'd you come across it?'

Nix shrugged. 'I'm not sure. I found it on the beach one night and since it didn't seem like anything bad, I kept it. I even lost it once and it returned to my pocket.'

'It has chosen you as its owner,' Chiron said. 'But use it only against monsters: no hero should ever harm a mortal unless absolutely necessary.'

'Nothing would happen anyway,' Will said. 'It would just pass right through.'

'That's right,' Chiron said. Riptide turned into a sword. 'Celestial bronze – an immortal weapon. Humans don't exist on the same level as the immortals – can't even be hurt by our weapons. But you are part god, part human. You live in both worlds. Can be harmed by both, and affect both – _that's_ what makes heroes so special. You carry the hopes of humanity into the realm of the eternal. Monster never die: they are reborn from the chaos and barbarism that is always bubbling underneath civilization, the very stuff that makes Kronos stronger. They must be defeated again and again, kept at bay. Heroes embody that struggle: you fight the battles humanity must win, every generation, in order to stay human.'


	19. Chapter 19

The camp had been through two hard weeks. The arts and craft cabin had been burned to the ground from an attack by a Draco Aionius. The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. The kids in Apollo's cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. Everybody looked weary and battered as they crowded around Thalia's tree.

The moment the Golden Fleece was draped over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from grey to liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the branches and ripple through the grass, all the way into the valley. Gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

Everybody cheered. It was happening slowly, but the Fleece's magic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison.

.

The Chariot races continued as scheduled.

Nix and Annabeth paired up and won, with Tyson supporting them by making upgrades to the Athena chariot and supplying them with special javelins along with a shield Tyson made personally for Nix.

Grover announced that he'd be able to spend the rest of the summer before resuming his quest for Pan since the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he didn't get killed and had cleared the way for future searchers.

Grover suggested dissolving the empathy link, saying that if he got in trouble he would put Nix in danger. Nix had replied that a life of a demigod was always dangerous and it was good to have a way to call for help if she would ever need it. In the end, he agreed not to break it and went back to playing YMCA for the strawberries. Nix didn't need an empathy link to know how the plants felt about it.

As Tyson and Nix sat on a sand dune overlooking the Long Island Sound, Tyson made an announcement that took Nix by surprise.

'Poseidon sent you a dream message?'

Tyson nodded. 'Wants me to go underwater for the rest of the summer. Learn to work at Cyclopes' forges. He called it an inter – an intern –'

'An internship?'

'Yes.'

'So when are you leaving?'

'Now.'

Nix blinked. 'Now. Like. . .now, now?'

Tyson nodded. 'I want to make things. Weapons for camp. You will need them.'

Unfortunately, Nix knew he was right. The Fleece hadn't solved all the camp's problems and Luke was still out there, gathering an army. Kronos was re-forming in his golden coffin and eventually, they would have to fight him.

'You'll make the best weapons ever,' she told Tyson, staring out at the waves of Long Island Sound.

.

A storm raged but it parted around Camp Half- Blood, protected again thanks to the Golden Fleece inside the borders. Everyone made their way towards the hill, satyrs, nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armour and pyjamas, a small crowd gathering at Half-Blood Hill.

Nix broke through the crowd to see the Fleece still in the pine tree and a girl lying unconscious at the base of the tree with a girl, Annabeth, in Greek armour kneeling next to her. Nix ran towards the unconscious, ignoring Chiron's cry for her to wait.

The girl had short black hair and freckles across her nose, built like a long distance runner, lithe and strong. She wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth – a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans and a leather jacket with badges from a bunch of bands.

'Curse the Titan Lord,' Chiron said. 'He's tricked us again, given himself a chance to control the prophecy.'

Nix wasn't sure what prophecy Chiron was referring to but she could tell that it was important. Nix placed her hand on the girl's forehead, her skin cold and yet Nix's fingertips tingled as if they were burning.

'The Fleece,' Chiron continued. 'It did its work too well: it healed the tree but poison was not the only thing it purged.'

Nix lifted the girl into a sitting position, trying to get a good grip so that she could take her to the Big House since no one moved to help her, not even Chiron, but then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startling blue – electric blue.

She stared at Nix in bewilderment. 'Who –'

'I'm Nix,' she said. 'What's your name?'

Nix knew she didn't even have to ask as she stared into the girl's blue eyes. She already knew.

'I am Thalia,' the girl said. 'Daughter of Zeus.'


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: _Titan's Curse_! Fairly short chapter.

* * *

[Thank you, milady!] the hippocampi cried with joy.

'Mooo!' said the cow serpent, a friend that the hippocampi had asked Nix to help.

Anytime Nix was near the beach, the hippocampi would ask her to help them with their problems. And they had a lot of problems: beached whales, porpoise caught in fishing nets, mermaids with hangnails – they'd call her underwater and help.

Nis said goodbye and shot up, breaking through the surface. Immediately, Blackjack zoomed down and Nix grabbed hold of his neck, propelling herself onto his back and they took to the skies.

[Success, boss?]

Blackjack was the pure black pegasus that Nix had indirectly help escape from the _Princess Andromeda_ and since then, he'd taken to calling her boss, despite her protests.

'Yeah: rescued a baby. . .something or other. Had to calm it down – almost got stampeded.'

[Good deeds are always dangerous, boss. You saved my sorry mane, didn't you?]

Nix snorted. 'Come on. We've gotta meet up with the Hunters.'

Then an arrow soared through the air towards them.

.

Annabeth was in a dilemma.

In order of events, Nix had not checked in. Nix didn't like staying in camp, especially in the crowded Hermes cabin (Nix had suggested to Chiron to use magic to make the inside bigger than the outside to solve the problem. The idea was so great that Annabeth felt stupid for not thinking about it earlier) evident by the fact she camped out in the woods with the monsters. She'd stay for a while and then leave on the condition that Nix check in once a week (Chiron only let her go because she was making everyone jumpy with the pranks she played, sometimes with the Stoll brothers like the waking everyone up by putting them on fire thing).

And it'd been a week.

Sure, Nix could've have just forgotten but the fact Hedwig had returned to camp with a black pegasus and no Nix then leave was a cause to worry.

Her dream weren't helping either.

Next, Kronos was after a terrible monster that could bring out the end of Olympus and the goddess Artemis had gone to hunt it done before the army could find it, only to find herself in trouble – something that Annabeth felt Nix might be involved in. A quest was given (the Oracle of Delphi actually stepped out of the attic!) but instead of the usual three, five were going.

That was Annabeth's current situation: she wanted to go but the five had already chosen: Zoe Nightshade, the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis; another hunter; Bianca di Angelo, one of two demigods that they had been sent to retrieve when they met up with the Hunters; Thalia and Grover.

Annabeth could sneak out like during the lightning thief situation but. . .

_Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,_

_One shall be lost in the land without rain,_

_The bane of Olympus shows the trial,_

_Campers and Hunters combined prevail,_

_The titan's curse must one withstand,_

_And one shall perish by a parent's hand._

. . .it was predicted that not all of the chosen five would survive: Chiron didn't need to worry about her as well.

Annabeth looked up a spotted Nico di Angelo, Bianca's younger brother, hunkered down behind a Greek column, like he was hiding. It took a minute for Annabeth to figure out that he was pulling a Grover: spying on the Hunters.

Annabeth pulled out her invisibility cap and decided to join him.


End file.
